Two Of Us
by violentartista
Summary: Dib remembers a past that won't let him go...MPREG ZADR CHAPTER 6 FINALE!
1. Two Of Us: Prologue

**AN/ **The following has been revised, edited and finished to the point of being a final copy. If you want to use this story on your webpage, CREDIT ME. If I find out you have used this without credit I will be VERY displeased. This story is of an adult nature and contains weird alien sex, same sex relationship, male pregnancy and graphic violence. Read at your own discretion. All characters copyright Nick and Johnen Vasquez.

Two of Us: Chapter1 Prologue 

The sun was a lifeless sphere up in the sky. The crop circles just barely showed through the pasture and rolling grass bending in the wind. Dib sighed thinking of the cows that no longer wandered in these fields or any other. How the world had changed since he was a boy. A video camera set beside him on the passenger seat of his car; what he deemed the preferred company on a trip to old familiar territory. He had run the little SUV off the road onto an abandoned grassy stretch, the light bumping soothing his ever jangled nerves. Finally he had arrived at the spot. The edge of a huge crop circle almost touched the right wheel of his vehicle while on either side, tall grass ever gently swayed in the breeze. It took all his strength to get out. 

Camera in hand he began video-taping.

"Second of June, first age of the new reform," he spoke evenly, "I'm back here again as promised. It's looks a little nicer then last time, since they finally got rid of that pile of scrap metal laying around," he sighed continuing, "but the crop circles are still here."

He did a quick pan of the area, which was a massive network of flattened wheat and barley that from the air could be seen as a viable geometric pattern. From the ground it wasn't as impressive although it still drew some tourists later in the summer when the weather wasn't so hot.

His gaze focused on one particular spot near the left globe shaped pattern, "I guess not a whole lot has changed this year," he spoke softly, "but Gurn and I managed to snag a few nice shots of Gaz and her boyfriend. I don't think she knows that we did because that would probably mean I wouldn't be talking on the same memory card," he laughed, "also Deen did a nice song at her Skool talent show. She's really getting good but I'm sure you already know that.." his voice faded out.

The wetness in his eyes threatened to spill over but he took a deep breath determined to finish filming. 

"And Gurn is really taking to interstellar travel. There's a great shot on here of him creaming the competition at the annual Kidz Spacerace. We all miss you," he paused," and so do I. I hope you'll come home soon."

He clicked off his camera letting it rest against his leg, his fingers intertwined in the leather strap, while as he bowed his head the wind rustled his hair. That single piece he never could quite tame stuck up as it always had, and it along with the faces of his children, reminded him daily what he had lost on this very field 12 years ago. Familiarity sometimes became his mortal enemy against a personal battle of sorrow. As Dib's footsteps plodded slow and sullen, he crossed the grass strewn path into his own little realm he had carved out in the earth 10 years before. With a lift of the sod, an earthen square was revealed and within a grey locked box. The box had been made long ago and had been sealed with Irken technology, so now only two people in the universe could ever open it. Dib lifted it out and flicked it open effortlessly with a few pointed jabs at the sides, checked to be sure all the years of films were there and then promptly deposited the newest addition into its innards. With his yearly ritual complete he plopped the box back into its secret hiding place.

He stood tall and uncertain under the glowing sun still unwilling to head for home. There were those shoots he had to do for the evening Alien Encounter report, and that article to finish for Saucer's Weekly but unlike his father he didn't put aside everything for his work. He wished his dad were still around to see his grandchildren basking in the irritations of adolescent. It made him especially sad to think that he and Gurn would have gotten along charmingly well. None the less, the past couldn't be changed and that was exactly the root of Dib's problems. The mess that had happened all those years ago was still as fresh as a new wound in his mind. Nothing in the world could ever change that. Well perhaps there was one thing, but that was as likely right now as the second coming of Jesus.

He walked deep in reverie among the grasses, his trench coat mutely brushing wheat and barley.

Sounds and visions flashed in his head.

_There's a 96 chance of absolute death._

The armada is here!

Nothing in the world could keep me from you and Gurn.

Your father died valiantly trying to save you, Gaz and the Earth. That was what he wanted!

There is very little hope for Earth anymore. 

  
But what about the happy memories, his mind pleaded. So he let those take over for a little while begrudgingly because sometimes, after, when he was all alone those stung worse then the bad.

Yes that was something he still had. His father was dead, and what had happened to Zim it was painfully uncertain. However, the memories were things he could count on.

Maybe that was why he made chips very year with his family's adventures in hopes that the missing member would find them. Perhaps the faith that was lacking terribly in his current existence was achingly brought to life by these symbolic actions.

But not now, his fevered mind wailed. All he had to do was stand in the aptly named Fields Of Dying, while the breeze lifted his coat up like rich black wings over the stark horizon, as memories thundered around him. Everything else could wait. All he had to do now was dream, and wish and remember...


	2. Two Of Us: Beginnings

Two Of Us: Chapter 2 - Beginnings

The grass had faded. His eyes traveled to the left where Skool had been, then to the small hill where Zim's house once stood. Yes, these dreadful fields filled with nothing but memories and grass had once been the neighborhood of his childhood. Now the wheat that whispered in the wind was the only other witness to that fateful day, when Zim had arrived on a mock mission to invade earth.

Besides his arrival, the most important thing Dib remembered was the day he and Zim had become friends. It had been almost two decades ago when he had another hair-brained scheme to reveal the Invader's true purpose. He could almost hear the evening crickets and smell the summer day as the lights of a past he loved flashed in front of his eyes like an oncoming car.

A rabbit was crushed on the sidewalk its innards spilling out onto the road, a poor unfortunate victim of some yuppy's car. In the gathering twilight, the many crows that lurked in such suburban paradises haunted the power lines above it. Dib camera in hand, scurried across the lawns that separated his house from the Alien Invader's; hopping over the rabbit barely paying it heed while a very happy crow, after his steps had faded, swooped down to peck at the dead creature's flesh. There were no heavy thoughts in his head on this night. He was full of energy, excited and elated. After all the waiting and watching, tonight was the night his dreams would come true.

"This is going to be so rich!" Dib squealed.

The planning had taken months, the preparations seemed almost endless but somehow through incredible skill (or sheer dumb luck); Dib had managed to construct a device that would knock out everything that stood in his way from exposing to the world that real live aliens had come to earth. Oh it was just too sweet, what with his dad working on that sonic wave experiment and stuff just lying around that he needed. The sonic device itself he had implanted deftly after a brief dodging spree with the laser laced lawn ornaments, stabbing it into the grass and quickly leaping like a mad jumping bean to avoid the deadly light show; as it dug into the earth resting unseen just beneath the ground. With a flick of a switch it knocked out the gnomes, allowing Dib to escape unharmed and flick the defenses back on before Zim was the wiser. Irken defenses along with every thing else the Irken's had made, depended on sonic waves to balance out the electric pulses sent through the machines by whatever means their power source came from. He hardly understood the details only that disturbing these wave thingies actually worked. With this he could knock out anything Irken as long as he wanted, he had even fashioned himself a cute little handgun that could expel a quick burst in case of emergencies.

"You're the best handgun," he said in a cutesy voice rubbing it fondly.

So, with his newly implanted device, and a quick flick of its activation switch he managed to make it past the gnomes through the creepily decorated living room, beyond the smelly couch and into the bowels of the fake automated toilet chute. Chucking his handy rope down the tube he prayed to whatever powers that be no one in the house had noticed the mild power diversion from the security system. Grasping the gun in his teeth, Indiana Jones style, he slithered down the rope quickly as possible gleefully finding himself in the very heart of Zim's base. He crawled out of the chute far above the computer and nestled himself into the membrane like coils of the base shell. There he could tape unseen while Zim went about his world destructy business. He flipped the digital video camera out of his backpack, making sure to put in a nice empty memory card into the slot.

"Wouldn't want to run out of tape during the moment of glory," he cackled to himself.

Just then Zim strutted into the base straight legged and cocky as always humming some crazy tune.

"What's it gonna be master? Huh huh!" shrieked the little robot.

"Today my dysfunctional robot friend," he sneered, "we regroup to start our newest plan. But FIRST we must contact our TALLEST!"

Zim flicked on the comp screen, unaware that while doing so Dib was shitting bricks in anticipation. He was going to see the Tallest! Those enigmatic Irken leaders he had only previously heard about.

The huge video screen came to life casting shadows all around the base.

"My TALLEST!" Zim began melodramatically, "the operation with the pig meat has failed," Dib shuddered remembering THAT stupid mess up, "but do not give up hope. I INVADER Zim have concocted a truly grand scheme worthy of your consideration."

"Uh..." Tallest Red looked up only just realizing Zim was even on the line.

Tallest Purple was still stuffing his face with nachos when he turned around almost dropping the plate at Zim's monstrous mug on the video screen, "hey Red? What's he doing up there? I thought we got rid of this guy ages ago!"

"Look... Zim…" Tallest Red began, "maybe this is hard for your tiny head to understand but..."

"I know I know," chortled Zim, "you want to reward me for my efforts on the frontlines of the earth invasion."

Dib smacked his forehead. How slow could an alien invader be!

"Umm...no," tallest Purple said emphatically.

"Actually Zim we don't like you," Red pointed his claw at Zim, "we never have. And we'd really appreciate it if you'd go away!"

"Yeah!" whined Purple.

Zim just looked terribly confused.

"But my Tallest...is my progress not pleasing you?" he stammered.

"What progress? There hasn't been any progress in the six years you've been here!" Red sighed exasperated, "Zim pay attention for once in your Irken life. We don't care about you, in fact we sent you to Darth or whatever your stupid planet's called so you wouldn't mess up our plans."

Once again Zim's eyes were awash in clueless-ness. Red's eye twitched and Purple slapped his hand to his forehead in frustration.

Very slowly he said, "So...you aren't going to reward me?"

For a moment Tallest Red looked like he was about to explode. Purple gave him a friendly pat on the back with a "there there" look.

"Zim you have been stripped of your Invader status! Your academy privileges have been revoked. DO you get this?" Red shrieked, "YOU ARE NOT AN INVADER ANYMORE!"

"Geez Zim we didn't think it'd take you this long to figure out," Purple moaned.

"I'm not an...wait a minute you mean...I'm an exile!" the notion finally caught up to him.

Dib was almost laughing. Wow that took a while, and when it finally did reach whatever brain Zim had in his little body it seemed to hit him like a ton of bricks.

"No Zim, no you're not. Ever since Operation Impending Doom 1," Red finished.

The little alien's eyes had grown huge and looked shinier then normal. Dib stopped his mental laughter and suddenly, inexplicable felt kind of bad. It looked like Zim was about to cry and even though the whole pretend purpose of his mission was to destroy Earth, Dib couldn't help but feel a little sorry when someone's dream, hell, their whole purpose in life was stripped away from them in an instant.

Red chuckled bitterly, "it was too much trouble to knock you off, so we just sent you to some stupid planet hoping to distract you long enough so the REAL invaders could get some work done."

"Yeah," Purple agreed, nodding his head emphatically as a new pile of snacks was placed in his hand by one of the com managers.

"But I thought," Zim whimpered.

"Forget what you thought," said Red, "You're not an invader anymore. So...go away! And don't call us anymore."

"Yeah! Geez. I stand by my initial statement! You're creepy Zim! Consider this your last call from the Irken Empire. Good bye and good riddance!" laughed Purple.

A round of cheers could be heard from the com operators.

"Buh-bye Zim!" Red cackled.

The com screen went static.

Zim stared, long hard and irrationally at the glowing whiteness. What could have been going through his head at that instant? Dib couldn't even imagine. So the whole time Zim's leaders didn't even care if he lived or died. As much as he was doing a little happy dance in his head, deep down to Dib that seemed really sad. And poor Zim, who appeared to not know what to do with himself after that hefty information, just kind of stood there looking dumbly at a blank screen. His eyes if it were possible had gotten larger while his little antennae had slunk down like a defeated puppy's ears.

"But...," he said in the most pathetic voice Dib had ever heard, "I'm an...Invader..."

Unbeknownst to Dib while he was enraptured taping the com panel, Zim's robot servant had somehow managed to crawl up to his hiding place to ask a very pressing question that had popped into its insane little brain.

"WHY IS YOUR HEEEAAD SOO BIIIG?" screeched Gir.

"EEP!" Dib squealed. He jumped in surprise promptly hitting his head on a pipe above him; dizzy from the sudden pain he then staggered over a very large wire protruding from the metal mass under his legs. With that, he came crashing down the base sides until eventually he rolled to the ground directly in front of Zim's feet.

Dib groaned rubbing his head.

"DIB-HUMAN!" screamed Zim wildly, pointing his finger at him.

Oh boy. This wasn't going to be good. His second foray into the enemy's laboratory and he had botched it big time. Some paranormal expert he was, he thought miserably.

Meanwhile Gir was dancing around the base pointing at Dib while wildly brandishing his broken video camera shrieking, "WOW YOUR HEAD IS REEAALLY HUGE!"

Dib shoved the camera out of his face and stood up stock straight. He had no idea how to weasel his way out of this situation but he figured looking brave was a good first start. Zim was glaring at him, one eye twitched almost shut the other quite wide; his antennae now perked up from the surprise of an intruder.

Dib blurted out, "I saw the Tallest transmission." It seemed his best line of defense, maybe he could somehow bribe Zim with that info giving him a chance to escape. The Invader seemed to have a terrible ego complex to begin with...

It quickly became apparent that was not one of his brightest ideas.

Zim turned furious," I suppose the EARTH MEAT thinks he's more superior to the mighty Zim!" he punctuated each word with a jab on Dib's chest.

"Uh, not exactly.." but Zim wasn't about to stop.

"Come to gloat HAVE YOU! To POKE FUN at poor pathetic ZIM!", he shrieked loud enough for his voice to echo around the entire base.

"JESUS CHRIST Zim!" Dib yelled back, his tempter sorely tested by Zim's ranty nature, " I was here doing what I always do, trying to expose you! But obviously it was a waste of time since your robot demolished my camera!"

Gir was still running around pretending to video-tape with the useless piece of equipment.

"WEE!" the robot giggled happily absolutely oblivious to everything that had been going on.

"How about you just let me go and we call it even! Your robot destroyed the tape and it's not like anyone is going to believe me anyway," he sighed hopelessly.

Zim seemed taken aback by the logical response Dib had uttered. He scowled but remained silent.

Then he spoke bitterly, "Fine. Leave. It's not as if there's any point in trying to destroy you anyway."

That took Dib by surprise, but he wasn't about to be the first earth boy to look an alien gift horse in the mouth. After a brief struggle with Gir he wrenched the poor beaten up camera out of hands. He took a few steps toward the shute but stopped and turned around. Zim was doing something on his computer panel, but it was slow and sullen unlike the usual zest that was present whenever he had been hatching a plan for world domination.

"So what are you going to do now?" Dib asked.

There was a long pause at the panel, "what do you care," was the barely audible hiss.

"Well it kinda matters if you are or aren't going to destroy the Earth," Dib said pointedly. He creeped closer to the com panel his eyes catching something suspicious looking blipping across the screen.

"Zim what are you doing?" Dib had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What does it MATTER to a stupid STINK-BEAST what the mighty ZIM has in store for his wretched self!" he screamed.

Mass amounts of computer hacking into Zim's systems in the past had given him a basic understanding of the Irken blips that flashed across the screen. With those honed skills he had some academic authority to confirm that it was some kind of self destruct activator.

"LEAVE!" Zim cried at the top of his lungs," Leave and be gone with your HIDEOUS human FILTH!"

"Look I'm not going until you calm down," he huffed realizing swiftly what Zim was about, "you're obviously not in your right mind."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!" the piercing howl filled the comm room, "You and your STUPID human SENSIBILITIES!" Zim pointed his finger accusingly in his direction, as if to say being human was all Dib's fault, "without an INVASION an INVADER is USELESS! Woe is ZIM!" he wailed, "Invader without a mission!" Zim collapsed dramatically against the panel, his antennae wilting until they were flat against the crown of his head, "there's nothing for me anymore," was the final whimper.

"Zim that's not true," Dib said trying to comfort him in vain.

He didn't know what made him try and right the poor alien's misconstrued wish for self destruction. Realistically he could sweep the base after it was demolished with no Zim or Gir to stop him, take whatever he wanted from the piles and be off on his way to a bright future in paranormal investigations. But, the moral side of his being as it always had, clung to his inner resolve forcing him to reconsider his own self interests.

"Stupid, Stupid human," Zim spat, "as if a puny Earth being would understand an Invaders plight. Well here is my gift to YOU Earth-Dib!"

His finger now poised dramatically above a red glowing button, it quickly slammed down with enough force to drive it through the computer.

Zim's screeching laugh echoed in the base, "if I cannot have my invasion YOU cannot enjoy your STINKING EARTH LIFE! Goodbye Dib I'll expire happily knowing your WASTED self went up with me!" a round of cackling was heard after.

Dib barely twitched an eyebrow. He simply aimed his ray gun, knocked out the power to the self destruct which by proxy was disabled, then tackled Zim to the ground, who in his severe state of surprise by this movement fell easily to the floor.

"You are so predictable," Dib said with a grin.

Zim hissed at him through clenched teeth. It was all he could do since at the moment he had been disabled by Dib's much taller self crushing his body while his arms were held above his head.

"Are you done now?" Dib asked.

There was a long pause as Zim glared angrily at Dib, his pride evidently very hurt. He glared to the left and then the right fully aware of his predicament, then miraculously seemed to calm down a little.

"I'm thinkin'…yeah," was his dulled response.

Dib got up slowly and carefully just to be sure Zim wasn't going to make a mad leap for anything too deadly. In a comedic display of inhospitality, they both ended up brushing themselves off to rid whatever invisible 'goo' the other possessed from their person. Openly Zim glared at Dib who glared right back with as much zest as he could muster.

In an uncharacteristic display of maturity, Zim stuttered, "Thank-you Earth-meat."

"No problem," was Dib's calm response.

"Not that I, ZIM could NOT handle a small let down," the alien huffed in a mad attempt to maintain some dignity.

And there went his begrudging respect that he was beginning to admonish for Zim. Well, maybe not entirely…

"Zim how about we make truce for a while," he extended his hand.

Zim looked at it as though it were going to bite.

"You know," Dib went on unfettered, "since you need to blend in for a little while until you can get back to your planet or whatever it is you wanna do."

Dib noted how Zim stared worriedly at the floor for a moment before snapping back to himself. It became apparent that Zim really had no idea what to do since the news had been given that he was pretty much a useless Irken sitting on a big dumb rock.

Zim huffed extending his hand, "I suppose I can lower myself this once earth-Dib, under the circumstances."

Dib grinned shaking his hand. Maybe he was a little excited at the prospects of having Zim as a friend. It certainly meant he could play around with all kinds of neat alien stuff. Plus, this kind of meant he saved all mankind in a round about way. He kept Zim from destroying the base and himself which would have at least resulted in some dead or wounded in the adjacent houses, while also keeping very close tabs on the crazy alien in case he might change his mind about the invading anytime soon. It sure felt like he was doing something golden anyhow.

"BUT," Zim demanded, snapping his hand back, "no 'dissecting' or Swollen Eyeballs or the deal is off. And OH such PAIN you will suffer!" he finished his threatening speech with a shake of his gloved fist.

"Sure thing Zim," Dib said all smiles.

So a shaky friendship had begun. If only he had foreseen what was to come in the future. Would he have changed a thing? Perhaps not…but the beginning was the start of all fate's ribbons that spun out from the past, and perhaps for that reason Dib felt a twinge of guilt. After all, he had started it; the friend ship that bloomed into something more. That had changed until it became the all consuming force in Dib's life, until it created two new lives that spun their own threads into the future. But he still had time, hours even until sunset. He could dream some more, and he would until the stars came out in the hot summer night, forcing him to embrace his current reality that lacked the person he loved the most. Yes, there was still a little time left yet…


	3. Two Of Us: Plans

Two Of Us : Chapter 3 - Plans

When your world revolved around one purpose, one person; everything else in life became insignificant and small. Other matters are pushed aside while that one obsession slowly takes over life and limb. Dib recalled his sister Gaz saying things would get better with time, however, when the one who owns your life suddenly vanishes, it feels as though the world has ended. This was the unanimous explanation for his current pain. Despite having never really 'lived' in his youth, Zim had made him feel alive. That too held blame for the loss he had felt 12 years ago, the madness he suffered months at a time over the inevitable truth that he could not, and would not for the longest time accept.

"Time heals all wounds," he whispered to the grass as he was resting with his back to the ground staring at the sunset. _Bullshit._

The bitterness was about to overcome him but he forced it back. Think of other things.

Dib knew he had never experienced adolescence in its natural incarnation. While other kids were experiencing love, sex, wild parties and drugs, he was working away in Zim's basement lab on crazy gizmos. Even as friends, Dib's focus was purely on Zim. Bigfoot and the rest of the paranormal had been instantly replaced by a real living specimen; that wasn't just a creature to be studied but his only mentionable live companion. The times they had were fun and just as fulfilling he had assumed, as all that other stuff. None the less Dib felt a faint twinge of regret he hadn't lived to the fullest in the world he knew back then, before it had all been taken away. He also pined that he had never taken the time to act on a mild crush he had on Zita, since a few short years after his senior year in high school…it was too hard to think about. He wouldn't he forced himself, think only of the happy memories when the world was peaceful; when reality wasn't hell on earth. When he was happy.

The beauty of adolescence was fast upon him. Dib was 18 now, finishing his last year before graduation. It had been a terribly busy year for him at school which had limited his time to hang out with Zim at the base; none the less, they had been spending as much time as humanly possible with each other. What had begun as a suspicious respect on both their parts had slowly turned into a pleasant friendship. During his formative years he had spent most days chasing Zim, now instead he was hanging out. There were no dates, break-ups, girlfriends or other distractions that normally populated high skool living in Dib's life. Well there had been Zita. Although Zita had been nicer to him this year and even apologised for the whole 'crazy card' thing, he really didn't see her much besides the classroom. None the less he had developed a slight crush on her. He and Zita were only friends inside school, which didn't bode well for any burgeoning romance but it was fine by Dib. They lived so far apart it was impossible to hang out anyways. In his perspective, at least having an ally in educational hell wasn't out of the question but despite it, he still missed Zim's crazy presence during Mr.Bitters' rants and Ms. Sweet's fuzzy wuzzy discussions. Ah, the beauty of having an overcrowded school system that shuffled its teachers around like cards. Much to Dib's delight and his sister's annoyance that mean she too had one of her old teachers in high school; Mr. Elliott to be exact. The hyper happy social worker turned teacher who doted on Gaz like a second daughter, much to her chagrin. It was almost worth going to school just to see that. Not today though; school and all its encompassing activities had been put on the backburner since he had bigger fish to fry. Most notably the crazy solution he and Zim had come up with to remedy the problem the Irken was encountering on Earth. While Dib had grown considerably taller in the years they had known each other, Zim was still pint sized. Zim had actually stopped going to skool at about the 7th grade when his height difference became obviously apparent. It was exceedingly difficult as the grades went higher to explain it away by being a 'late bloomer'. So, although the alien went out into the world from time to time in the old man disguise it still wasn't enough to lead a relatively productive life on Earth. Zim's new mission it seemed was to get taller as soon as Irkenly possible.

With their goal clearly in focus, they had attacked it with zest. This meant, much to Dib's delight, Zim would let him poke through Irken history archives. It had been something Dib had been itching to do ever since he had met the alien but for some reason, until the whole height thing had become an issue, Zim had almost been embarrassed to talk about his race's history at all. Begrudgingly, Zim had agreed to let Dib have his way due to the undeniable fact Irkens at one point had all been relatively the same height. They both had come to the same conclusion that Zim's ancient ancestral past would lend some clues as to how he could get taller.

"Well will you look at this," he had said one day while sifting through, " Irkens had kids at one point!"

Well not like human kids, but there was a male and female of the species and regular mating rituals which eventually resulted in eggs being laid.

"Interesting," Dib thought. It definitely lent credance to Dib's theory Irkens were an insectile life form.

"Peh," Zim had said shrugging it off, "the inferior leftovers of a vastly inferior reproduction method."

Ignoring that remark, Dib flitted through billions of years of evolution with zest. There were tons of pictures to look at too however; disappointingly, Irken historians were only interested in about 3 billion years in the past. Amusingly, the first stack of photos that came up were very similar to Earth in the 21st century. At least upon initial inspection; there were far more natural looking backgrounds and their houses were dome shaped and half sunken into the Earth. It was surprising to find out Irkens, at one point, were very connected to their home planet Irk and had treated it with far more respect then Humans ever did Earth. The pretty photos that came up consisted mostly of parents with their litter of 'smeets' very posed and looking quite peaceful with farms or picturesque villages behind them. It had only been after the space race had begun that things started to change.

The original ties to the land vanished, and the photos became less concerned with nature and more with important individuals standing around spaceships or drinking Irken sodas while flashing what Dib interpreted as a victory sign. Interestingly, Irkens were quite obsessed with invading other planets with their culture very early on, adapting whatever means necessary to take over other races with nary a thought to how the invadees felt about it. The pictures got more confused after that, with strange photos of Irkens standing beside other alien races on bizarre planets sometimes with weird children type things running around in the background. He guessed maybe some cross breeding went on at some point. A smile curved on his lips. He wondered how irritated Zim would be if he were reminded of that little piece of information.

Then drastically everything changed. A fascist philosophy was adopted and genetic tampering became legalized and encouraged. That was when the Irkens started classifying themselves into different categories. Also as the height difference was established, the idea that tallness was an important credential in leadership became obvious. Genders diffused and family ties vanished to be replaced with a fanatic Invader philosophy. It was all so Orwellian in nature to Dib. A peaceful nature loving race transformed into the monstrous invading machine of the now. Quite spooky really…

Ah, but the plan they had fruitioned out of the truly useful Irken information was genius.

"Number one is diet," Dib had explained while Zim worked out the kinks in their brilliant plan, "then we work on the pak."

Diet was an extremely important factor in Irken development. Invaders tended to have a very nutritionally poor one compared to that of the mighty Tallest. Although sodas and space rations did the job, there was a very poignant reason why the Tallest were always snacking on stuff like donuts and nachos. A balance of 'unhealthy' stuff and leafy greens it seemed was the bizarre combination that would probably give Zim a nice jump start on the growing process. It was worth a try in any event.

Dib remembered fondly frying up batches of donuts much to Gaz's annoyance in the kitchen, then quickly running through the back door past his dad in his lab, who shook his head at him muttering, "my poor insane son." It had taken a few trips and quite a few head shakes from his father to amass the donuts, leafy greens and nachos. Fortunately Gir had kept the fridge functional with his lust for bizarre snack foods, so storing things would be easy. Although he did have to throw quite a few expired things in the garbage, despite Gir's wails insisting they were still good (and quite tasty).

Zim eyed the diet regimen that had been printed off from his computer, "what about toast."

"Toast?" Dib queried, looking up from his mad fridge purging.

"I LIKE toast," was Zim's snarky reply.

"Uh ok. I don't see why not," Dib said utterly confounded. Go figure Zim would like, of all Earth foods toast.

Zim nodded seeing this acceptable then marched his way towards the toilet chute.

"When you're DONE Dib-beast your assistance is required with the pak operation downstairs." Zim said before vanishing into the chute.

Zim still had no trouble ordering Dib around, despite their growing friendship. He understood without explanation that it was an ego thing and let it go, since he knew how the little invader must have felt, not to have been treated with the utmost respect by his peers. He understood why the Tallest would be worried about such a rambunctious Irken but though his small alien friend had a terrible tendency to overlook sanity for gusto, there was no denying Zim had intelligence where it really mattered. Who else on Earth or Irk would have thought up a giant water balloon that catapulted from space? Or a device that made hamsters grow into epic proportions? Hair brained ideas without question, but Zim had the inventor's skill necessary to execute them. Dib was no slouch himself, and together they made quite a team. Zim had access to the most obscenely advanced technology around while Dib had technical skills learned from hours spent gizmo tampering, and was sane enough to realise when something really wouldn't work.

The pak part of their project however, was the most difficult situation Dib had ever come across. Not to mention horribly dangerous to Zim. In essence, paks weren't only a handy invading tool but were carriers of specific genetic altering properties. Even the Tallest had paks, which meant, that they too had limits written into them that determined growth, the inability to reproduce and a wicked number of other things. All of the biological functions of an Irk were repressed when the pak was saudered on at birth keeping them a nice highly focused cog in the military machine. Removing it would definitely do something to Zim's physical properties but what they weren't sure. Zim didn't seem to mind the unknown and Dib sure was looking forward to seeing some really cool alien happenings, so the plan was a go.

He had scurried now to the lower base, in great anticipation.

"About time earth-stink," Zim mumbled pressing buttons at a mad pace on the computer.

"So…" Dib said, "do you have ANY idea how this is going to work out?"

"Of course!" snapped Zim, " the lower and upper ports of the pak have to be released, which is where you come in Earth-boy," he pointed in Dib' direction threateningly, " so don't MESS up."

Dib made a face at him when Zim turned around.

"THEN these chips I've fabricated will simulate the most important functions of the pak. Atmosphere, translator AND…other stuff." Zim said, his voice faltering on the last bit.

"So what you're saying," Dib sighed, "is that you hardly know what your pak does let alone if you'll still be alive when it falls off."

Zim glared at him squinting his eye, "would you really be terribly disappointed if I wasn't?"

Dib let the slightly offensive comment slide.

"In any event you are the only thing on this planet that has the potential to understand my BRILLIANT plan," he cackled, "so LISTEN and pay attention." Zim hissed the last words ominously.

There was a large metal bench in the center of the base, and Zim sat on it motioning for Dib to come around behind him.

"Alright DIB," he said, spitting his name out in such a way it sounded like a disease, "unhook the top left hand corner."

Part of Zim's invader shirt folded neatly away exposing green skin with an evident port connected to his shoulder.

Internally Dib was hyperventilating, "wow! This is so cool! I get to touch real live alien flesh!" he stopped for a moment considering, "wait, was that a natural thought?"

In any event he worked up the courage to push forward resting his fingers right above the port, noticing immediately the chill temperature of Zim's skin.

"You're cold Zim," Dib said.

"Fascinating Earth-boy, if I die you can dissect me and learn all about it. Now GET BACK TO WORK!" Zim grumbled.

He got the first port off and it clicked and let go with a hiss.

"Feel any different?" was Dib's curious question.

"A little chill," was all Zim said, obviously listening very closely to whatever his insides were telling him about the pak's detachment process.

Dib moved from each port, three of them came off easily but the last one was persistent.

"It's not coming off Zim," Dib grunted struggling to detach the port, "are you sure about this?"

"Shut up EARTHENOID. I know what I'm doing. Just unclick the ports on the upper right and then," his sentence stopped in mid speech as the pak slid off. Zim had slumped almost lifelessly to the floor.

"Zim?" Dib said nervously.

The alien was silent and still, as though dead. Dib felt around for the chips beside him unable to take his eyes away from the very deathly still Irken, slumped over the bench.

"Now, I put these into the ports," he mumbled to himself, slipping them slowly into each vacant circle, "and if this works everything will be just peachy."

Almost immediately skin closed around them and the invader suit folded back into its original position. Zim's flesh took on a less sickly pallor.

"Zim?" he called again hoping the Invader would answer, "hey you alright?" he was a little nervous Zim really was dead. All thoughts of dissecting goodness had gone out of his head long ago, while the meek dread of his only friend dying slowly replaced it.

He touched his green shoulder panicked, "are you ok! C'mon Zim wake-"

"I'M ALIVE!" Zim screamed leaping to his feet, the shrieking cackle literally throwing Dib backwards in shock causing him to grab his heart in terror.

"HA HA HA HA!" Zim laughed triumphantly, "it takes more then losing his pak to destroy the might ZIM!" his chortling continued while Dib lay on the floor recovering from the heart attack inducing shock.

"GIR! It is time for a CELEBRATION! Bring out the- GWARK!" Zim flung himself to the floor and rolled there for a time.

Dib scrambled quickly to his feet, "what the hell just happened!"

Zim stopped rolling and laid on the floor his antennae twitching rapidly; then, finally they ceased their spasms. All was still.

Dib had no idea what to do. He wasn't sure whether to poke him or perform CPR. Then quiet suddenly Zim bolted to his feet again consequently knocking over Dib; his antennae perking up, hands on his hips looking like the Invader he always did.

"A minor setback," he huffed, "rest assured Earth-Dib the mighty ZIM is much himself again!"

Dib twitched an eye. He'd be dead himself of coronary arrest at this rate.

"Good to know," was his exasperated reply.

Gir had toddled in at this point holding a tray.

"I brought Taquitos!" was his chirp.

"Good work Gir!" Zim said triumphantly.

Dib got up, dusted off his knees then promptly took one of the taquitos from Gir. He eyed it suspiciously not entirely trusting the robots culinary expertise. A small bite confirmed the taquito was safe, and chicken filled.

"And now earth-Dib we celebrate!" Zim cackled cracking open some sodas.

With that, they had spent the rest of their evening enjoying oven baked taquitos and sodas while celebrating their foray into unexplored biological tampering.

It had been weeks, maybe even more like months since Dib had seen Zim. He was in school tapping his pencil noisily on his desk probably irritating more then a few class mates while horrible visions of alien death went through his head. True he could have just broken in and figured out what was going on inside the base but they were friends now, which mean there was an informal etiquette to follow. Dib was pretty certain Zim didn't have a phone or if he did, knew how to use it. It wasn't as if Dib had the number anyway. So for the past month having no idea what had happened he sat on virtual pins and needles waiting, for what he wasn't quite certain.

While trying to balance a pencil on his lip the way Zim had done countless times before, his concentration was quickly interrupted by a door bursting open and dishevelled student marching in.

Dib's eyes almost flew out of his head. It was Zim! But he was….tall! As tall as Dib! Not to mention his disguise was slightly better. Still very easily looked over if you considered details but at least his skin wasn't green anymore, and the hair was slightly normal looking while managing to be long enough to make up for Zim's lack of ears. His clothes were pretty decent too. Black denim type pants with a black matching jacket and a red shirt. Oddly enough the red shirt sported the Irken symbol in black, silk screened on the front.

"Greetings. I apologise for my lateness," with that admonishment he looked over at Dib, who had no empty seats beside him. Not put off Zim marched over to the other end of the classroom and sat in a vacant desk folding his gloved hands neatly in front as he had done in skool ever since Dib had known him.

"Oh yes class," said Mr. Bitters in a sour tone, "Zim is our new returning student," after having just uttered the obvious he promptly returned to his reading material. Although indeed related to Mrs. Bitters by being her son and all, Mr. Bitters took a completely different direction in the teaching experience. While Mrs. Bitters enjoyed accentuating everything with 'doom' related lectures, Mr. Bitters was the embodiment of pure indifference. Anything could go on in that classroom and he just didn't seem to care or notice. After each lecture he sat at his desk reading taxidermy magazines vaguely answering students' questions; if they had any. Dib was undecided if this was an improvement or a slightly worse fate then the previous Bitters.

With Zim's presence having returned to the classroom, his mind was at least occupied by far less troubling matters. Everything looked fine, in fact better then fine. Zim looked great and he appeared to have suffered no ill effects from his recent magnum growth spurt. Dib was elated.

The bell rang for their ten minute break, sending students flying in every which way to enjoy the beautiful weather outdoors. Dib was struggling to find Zim in all the chaos but didn't succeed. He sighed heading outdoors. Maybe he was in the gravel lot beside the skool…

Zita stopped him on the way, "Hey Dib!" her cheery voice called out.

"Oh hi," Dib said nervously.

She grabbed his arm in a teasing manner.

"Looking for Zim huh?" she giggled.

"Yeah," Dib said, realizing suddenly the few social skills he had were rapidly deteriorating.

They walked outside towards a bench in a prominent part of the lot, sun bright blue sky electric, the perfect summer day. Sitting down Zita relinquished her hold on Dib's arm and smiled at him.

He had no clue what to say or do, so relying on his weird sense of humour he said something stupidly corny, and Zita found this amusing.

"Dib you're so silly," she had giggled under the brilliant sky above their high skool grounds.

"It's warm today," she had said pushing some tiny stray hairs that got in her eyes, "what do you think; early summer or just the weather teasing us?"

He had smiled and mumbled something ridiculous like, "yeah" or "maybe".

He was a horror in social situations having had almost no experience with them. She was very nice about it, pretending not to notice his idiotic fumbles. Jus then Dib noticed Zim striding across the lot looking for him, finally noticing him and Zita, Zim stepped forward sharply then stopped. Well, maybe he hadn't noticed Zita until now. He gave Dib a funny look, in fact something that resembled an extremely odd glare. He wasn't doing it for long when unbeknownst to Zim, Torque was creeped up behind him with a bottle of water. The skool jackass had learned long ago Zim was sensitive to H2O and had used it many a time for his amusement. Chocked up to his 'skin condition' most students, save for Dib occasionally in elementary, had respected the intense hatred Zim brandished for water.

"Hey Zim," Torque said unleashing his cruellest laugh, "how's your skin condition?" he punctuated the last word by dumping the bottle directly over ZIm's head.

"IT BUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRNNSSSSSSS!" was the blood curdling shriek that echoed over the school grounds.

Zim ran screaming past him and Zita who both had been staring paralysed in shock, promptly knocking Dib over into some prickly bushes behind the bench.

"Owww…"Dib whined.

The horrible scraping noises probably meant Zim was rolling around in the gravel trying to relieve his pain.

"You ok Dib?" Zita said worriedly dipping over the side of the bench to check on him.

"I'm fine," he mumbled miserably, "this happens a lot."

The rest of the skool day went off without a hitch. Zim sat in his usual spot, snickering at Dib plucking thorns from his arm for the rest of the day. It apparently still amused Zim endlessly to see prime examples of human 'weakness'. Dib being his highly tolerant self just gave him a dirty look.

Everything seemed perfectly back to normal but it wouldn't be for long. Zim had been back in Dib's class for only about two weeks, when something odd began happening.

Well, to Dib it wasn't terribly strange, since of course weirder things had happened in their elementary days, but none the less it was unusual. Especially for Zim. Dib had caught the alien at least half a dozen times in one day haphazardly looking in his direction, as if trying to be discreet about it. At one point Dib just thought Zim was daydreaming about something, and happened to languidly look in Dib's direction. He realised quickly when his eyes had briefly met Zim's he had been mistaken. The Irken had flushed purple and quickly looked down at his hands. Then other things came to his attention as well.

Dib and Zita usually sat together during lunch and break but now with Zim around it quickly became a threesome. Zita was really nice to Zim trying to include him in conversations and being generally hospitable. Although Zim returned this to a decent degree, which was shocking in itself, he would glare at the girl ceaselessly if her attention strayed as though trying to bore a hole through her head. Eventually it dawned on Dib; Zim must be jealous. It **had** been just the two of them hanging out for the longest time, having another person round them at school must just be hard for him to deal with he reasoned. Plus he was an alien, probably not even familiar with human relationships anyway. He decided he and Zim would have a talk about it next time they were hanging out, which unfortunately would be a while with the workload he had been given. The joys of high skool Dib thought miserably.

The alien across the classroom had been sitting perfectly still eyes wondering towards the boy on the opposite side of the room. Yes, Zim was truly struggling with jealousy, Dib had been spot on about that. Yet, too late would he realise, the alien was also desperately attempting to understand instincts from a terribly unfamiliar past. There was something old clamouring to get a hold in Zim's mind, an ancient urge that was slowly usurping his strict upbringing in the Irken elite. However, it wasn't hindering his thought processes, oh no, it had sharpened them to a wicked point. A plan was forming, and it most certainly involved Dib in the most intimate of ways. A very Irken like smile appeared on his lips. The thought of it made Zim feel giddy, as his left antennae twitched rapidly under the wig; why not, after all a well planned mission was truly beautiful to behold.


	4. Two of Us: Fruition

Two of Us: Chapter 4 – Fruition

It made Dib smile to reminisce about Zim's ridiculous plots and schemes. Many things had led to his current situation and although serious at the time, the troubles he considered so great then were reduced to happy memories now.

He took a picture out of his wallet. It was a family photo; Dib, Zim, Gaz, Gurn and Deen were all sitting together crammed on the couch with smiles plastered all over their faces, almost cheesy in its happiness but none the less, one of two photos that survived the destruction. He liked to remember the first steps Gurn had taken, Deen's screaming matches with Gir and Gaz's frustration with Zim. For some reason they never got along; though they did make an effort to tolerate each other for his sake. One could look at this photo and say without question all of Dib's fleeting happiness was captured in that one instant.

What wasn't on film was the dynamic that had happened between him and Zim. Even to this day, Dib still couldn't get his mind around what possessed his mad alien invader to attempt what had not been done since the early years of his species. Sex was a delicate matter between them. Dib was horribly embarrassed by nature and that, well, he had never been anti-sexual, just viewed intimate experiences with other beings like a bunch of peas and carrots on his dinner plate. He'd eat them eventually, but they weren't as interesting as everything else. Zim had pushed him in that direction not entirely of his will but it had opened his mind up to all sorts of thing he just hadn't had the drive to think about before. Sexuality became something like a warm bath for Dib, comforting and pleasant to ease into, as long as there was someone else to draw the water. Their first time had been an interesting experience to say the least. All he could think about were the memories now. No matter dusk had passed and a calming navy blue had settled over the sky. He felt selfish and alone, allowing no advent of time stop him from reminiscing. After all, time had made his life hard enough with all that was to come, it was only fair for this one night a year he could take some of it back.

Dib was chopping his freshly clean spinach from the newly functioning sink with glee. It was the first time in over a month he was able to hang out at Zim's house, and the break from anything school related was most welcome. He was at the base picking up on the minor cooking skills he had been trying to teach Zim. Not that we was a gourmand or anything, but he could certainly help an alien who had never cooked in his life, let alone eaten earth food. Zim was staring at the way he chopped the spinach.

"Why does it have to be like that?" he was always so full of questions about Earth food.

Dib set the knife down and scooped up the spinach in his hand, "because if we don't then it'll get stuck in the food processor."

He was making one of those soups that required cooking then a blending process, something Zim had just learned. He was trying to teach Zim how to spice food up a bit because with the life span he had, making lettuce and donuts palatable for centuries was a bit of a challenge.

The spinach was cooked in its broth, and now ready for the cream mixture to be added.

"Can I blend it?" Zim asked strangely enthusiastic.

"I guess," Dib said handing over the spatula reluctantly, "but be careful with it."

Zim went to work while Dib mulled about the newly renovated base. Of course everything had to be altered due to Zim's sudden growth spurt, which Dib figured was what he had been doing that long time period before re-entering skool. The base looked better then ever and after several consultations from Dib was actually functional on a human level. The washroom was finally separate from the kitchen and everything worked, although the entire second story, as before housed the voot cruiser. Below, the base had the usual computer panels and secret floors but with the addition of a bedroom, since Zim hadn't needed to sleep until now. The pak it seemed had also de-necessitated the biological need for Invaders to slumber. However, the Tallest slept and this Zim knew, so it wasn't unthinkable for him to rest, now that his height was on par with them.

Everything had appeared fine, although a few days ago Zim had pulled Dib aside at skool with a troubled look on his face.

"I've been having…'instincts' human," Zim had whispered almost embarrassed behind the school, "my computer doesn't understand what they are and I…"he paused for dramatic effect, "have no idea."

"Well what kind of instincts?" Dib had said with hilarious visions of nest building floating through his head.

"Just…INSTINCTY instincts," was his only answer.

"Maybe you should try and understand them, you know experiment outcomes on your computer or something," with such vague information this had been Dib's only advice.

"Perhaps you're right Dib-human," Zim said, appearing sufficiently satisfied with his answer, "experiments are indeed in order."

And that had been the end of that. Unknowingly, as Dib sat thinking, Zim had at that very instant slid something into the soup. It was a little pellet and was quickly pulverised into the other contents, hardly noticeable among the thick green liquid.

Together they doled out the soup in bowls each sitting in their respective seats across from each other at the table. Zim also had a plate sitting on his right with a very fat donut resting on it, while Dib had rye bread; some freaky carbohydrate that Zim wouldn't dare touch because of the deep brown color and weird smell.

"It looks like DIRT!" Zim had once exclaimed appallingly, when Dib had shown him a few days ago what went with soups like they were eating now.

Dib grinned remembering the distorted faces that were made during Zim's first shopping trip outside of the convenience store realm. Even vegetables were an adventure with an alien.

His soup waiting to be eaten, Dib happily dug in devouring the tasty liquid with zest. Zim was very carefully pulling apart his donut with his clawed fingers, watching Dib's reaction closely. Naturally since the house had no windows, (they were cleverly disguised as double sided mirrors so Zim could see out but people couldn't see in), Zim wasn't wearing his disguise. The left antennae twitched idly again, as though anxiously awaiting something.

Dib lifted his spoon up again, noticing Zim looking at him with another odd expression on his face. The spoon had almost made it to his mouth when suddenly it slipped from his fingers and fell into the soup. Dib lurched forward grabbing onto the table for stability. The world had literally turned sideways. Zim sprang to his feet.

"Uh, Zim I feel really…odd," he managed to say before slowly sliding down. He would have fallen off the chair if it weren't for Zim's quick reaction to his fall.

"Are you alright Dib," Zim said in an eerily calm voice.

The world was becoming distorted. It took immense effort for him to able to form coherent words, "I think, I may need to lay down," he managed to utter out.

He felt ill; actually he was beginning to sweat as if he had a fever. To say the world was spinning in front of his eyes was an understatement. Each limb felt weak, while everything seemed sideways upside down or just plain weird. He didn't notice in his state Zim's strange cool or the fact his actual name had been uttered by the alien, instead of 'Earth-dib', 'Earth-boy' or the numberless other titles Zim used when speaking to him directly.

"Would you like to lie down?" was Zim's next question.

"Yeah," he said feeling guilty for messing up their hang out time, "maybe I'll feel better after."

It was nothing for Zim to just toss him over his shoulder, Irkens possessing that strange attribute to be able to carry several times their own weight. They went through the new base entrance in the coat closet, down into Zim's room deep underground. The dark actually seemed to help Dib; it made his eyes hurt less although he couldn't say much for the rest of his jell-o body. Finally they were there and Zim gently laid him down on the soft large bed. It was red, like almost everything else in the room, with huge pink pillows matching the Invader color scheme in the rest of the base. Dib rested his head in the soft cushions feeling a little better in a horizontal position. He still felt like something was burning up inside him, but couldn't figure that out. Hopefully it wasn't the flu, he couldn't' afford to be out of skool at all until graduation.

"Here's hoping you won't catch my cold," Dib said, trying to make light of the situation, "who knows what it would do to an Irken."

Zim really didn't seem to be paying attention to one word he spoke. He had slowly inched closer to Dib watching him with his oval eyes, that odd look again plastered all over his face. A claw brushed an errant piece of hair out of Dib's face much to his surprise, then promptly Zim went about removing his glasses.

"Z-zim," Dib stuttered half laughing in shock, "what are you doing?"

The 'fever' had left him helpless. Zim's face was slowly inching closer to his, a cruel smile playing across his face, while Dib could only clutch the crumpled sheet beside him in desperation. Their lips met, the cool of Zim's flesh merely grazing his mouth. At the very second contact was made, the heat that was crawling over Dib's body like a snake flew to that exact precarious spot. He inhaled a shaky breath, before Zim dove in for a deeper kiss.

He didn't need anyone to tell him. The heat became poignantly sexual, arousing him instantly to a horrible knife's edge before orgasm.

_I've been drugged! _

Was the warning screaming in his head.

He had been inebriated somehow by Zim, obviously on purpose. Which led to the inevitable conclusion that this had all been planned, very carefully by the master of insane schemes himself. This was bad. "What the hell are you doing!" his brain tried to scream. Whatever he had used was so strong it was overriding his subliminal instincts, turning him into a pile of gibberish spouting goo.

The cold alien flesh had managed to part his lips now, while the slim tongue coiled around his own human palette causing the most unusual sensations to course through his body. Zim seemed to really get into the kissing, although never making a sound during the experience, in direct contrast to Dib's constant whimpers. He was still struggling despite the drug's nullification of his efforts; it only increased when Zim began tugging off his clothes.

The coat was easily removed and tossed to the side, while the pants required some wiggling from both of them. Dib was struggling to convince himself he was not in any way taking part in this bizarre union between an apparently and Irken male and a human boy. No matter that the heat in his groin was reaching painful levels or that his masturbatory fantasies were filled with mad alien lovemaking. This was different this was reality! Zim was his friend who was pretty much in the legal sense raping him; which didn't bode particularly well in his mind. Not to mention on top of that he was a complete and utter virgin. If he did end up seeing a prime piece of Irken equipment, it wasn't like he had any real idea what to do with it.

His clothes completely removed, he realized Zim was guiding him gently back on the bed. Tri-fingered clawed hands grasped his shoulder as an uncannily tender look crossed the alien's face. It almost gave Dib some comfort; but then he noticed Zim had somehow managed to get himself naked during this and was currently giving Dib an unintentional lesson on Irken anatomy. He had never seen anything so horrifying and yet simultaneously glorious in his life.

He had known Zim's flesh everywhere was green, that he had no belly button and was almost wraith thin particularly in the arms. In body mass, he matched Dib but the strength beneath the skin and bones surface was a hundred times that of a normal human. No nipples either, not that it was much of a surprise; Irkens weren't mammalian in nature anyway. The paranormal investigator side of his brain was exulted being able to finally view alien parts unseen until now. Yet, the little voice in his head that was truly terrified began to overrule. It wasn't the visual, oh no, never mind that Zim had a strange slitted opening that allowed a particularly large tendril to slide out of it, goo covered and wiggling. Or that it looked almost painfully armoured and met to a head with a pointed tip, with strange small openings up the side. It was the thought that this alien thing that seemed born from Dib's most glorious sexual dreams (and nightmares), was going to go inside him. Dib, it appeared would be the alien's sexual repository for whatever that 'thing' spewed forth from its ample depths. Anal sex in general was a wee bit disconcerting to a male who had considered himself at the most bi-curious, but sex with a creature not of this Earth, well that was something else entirely.

When Zim seemed determined to continue their session, that was when Dib's survival instincts kicked in. He struggled his noodle limbs against impossible odds, only to be usurped by more kissing and an errant claw that slipped its way between his legs. Dib's eyes were saucer shaped. Being touched by another being certainly was an interesting experience.

"Maybe this isn't so bad," his animal self argued. "No way!" his rational brain chided.

He didn't' have too much time to mentally discuss things, his rationality slowly slipping away to be replaced by the sensation of cool limbs mingling with his sweaty hot ones and claws that were everywhere teasing him. When the mouth left his, in desperation he tried to reach out to bring it back.

Claws held him down. The moment was long and unbearable, with the drug coursing through his veins while that need 'down there' had yet to be met. His cheeks were flushed, and he barely registered the feeling of pressure building up in another place…

The pain brought him back to reality, "ow, Zim that hurts!" he whimpered pitifully.

Dib thrashed, feeling shish-kabobbed by Zim's huge part. The wetness did feel nice though and it was pleasantly cool against his overly warm flesh.

"Relax Dib-human," said a voice, barely recognisable as Zim's due to its undeniable tenderness.

Arms wrapped around him, and their lips touched for the briefest moment. Dib' legs spasmed slightly a sure sign he had relaxed, allowing Zim to easily slide all the way in. Dib opened his eyes a mere slit, looking up at the alien who had just claimed his virginity. The concentrated look in his face was intriguing. He wasn't moving, which is what Dib presumed happened at this point but he was still certainly doing something, because he could feel a growing pleasure creeping inside him. It was the single weirdest sensation he had ever experienced in his life. For a minute there was a sharp pain, then an odd sound issuing form somewhere atop Zim's head. A purr maybe? Like a happily sedated cat. Suddenly he spasmed and couldn't hold out any longer. He came; his breathy moans colliding with that purring noise, the first time ever with a partner. Zim seemed satisfied by this reaction and then began to move in the normal fashion. His orgasm didn't seem to help the fevered state at all, in fact he was horny as hell, and very glad he was being virtually nailed to the bed.

His fresh lust collided with the heady feeling of afterglow, causing him to moan all sorts of obscene things he had no idea if Zim understood, let alone heard.

"Fuck me, please!" he cried, "Harder Zim! Fuck, do it harder!"

The wicked thrusts that followed symbolised Zim had gotten the message and was more then happy to accommodate his request. Their limbs were sliding together from the moisture on their bodies, accentuated as each tried to wrap tighter around the other while maintaining the pace. The purring sound was coming to a head, and Dib took this as a hint.

"Cum in me please," he begged, "please I'm at your mercy!" Good god where did that come from, he had to ask himself.

His words did the trick, and with a few intense thrusts Zim gasped pushing deep inside Dib, filling him up. The purring quieted, and Zim's antennae slumped into their normal position. Their bodies cooling and the fever abating, Dib was now regaining enough of his senses to be in intense shock.

Zim slid out slowly planting a kiss on Dib's lips before cleaning their bodies with tissues. The world was still topsy-turvy when he tried to get up, so he was content to lie back while Zim did all the work.

His head was swimming with confusion, "Zim? Why did we just do that?"

The cleaning job finished, green arms were content to slip around Dib's shoulders wrapping him up into an embrace he was conflicted in accepting.

"Because we wanted to," was the sleepy answer.

Dib wasn't entirely certain if that was true, but he was just as tired right now as Zim, and desperately needed sleep. Things could be sorted out in the morning when he was sure his body was listening to his brain, and his mind was his own. Curling up in the red sheets, nothing seemed more peaceful right now then resting with his Zim.

And where was Gir during these Earth shattering experiences?

"HI!" the little robot said.

Gaz stared at him oddly.

"Where the hell is Dib?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

"He's with the master, finishing plaaaaaaaaans. Can we play with you Gazzy?" he gave her a wide grin, promptly swiping a strange animal from behind his back.

The moose squeaked happily.

"I don't even want to know what the hell that is, or where you found it," she said twitching an eye, "all I want to figure out is if Dib is with Zim right now 'kay?"

Gir giggled, "Yup."

The moose squeaked with joy.

"Ok…"she said with a long pause, "then what are they doing?"

Gir looked around suspiciously, "they're…" he said very quietly waiting for dramatic effect, "MAKING BABIES!" he finished by throwing the moose thing at Gaz and marching right on in.

Mini-moose dislodged himself from her face and flew off to find Gir.

She closed the front door, whispering "some plans. Getting laid by an alien."

At least Gaz wasn't so much annoyed now, as intrigued. Zim was an alien, and Dib was definitely into the whole alien thing. Hell she could see her brother offering himself out to a venture like that. If what they said was really true then…an evil grin spread across her face. Things were about to get very interesting.

"C'mon Gir and….moose…thing," she said finding them just where she suspected; in front of the TV, "who's up for a game of vampire piggies while we wait to hear of my brother's horrible doominess?"

"YAY!" screamed Gir, "DOOM!"

Mini Moose squeaked in agreement.

Dib woke up, slightly disoriented. He couldn't figure out where he was, or why his rear hurt so much. Then it all came flooding back to him.

"Oh, right. Zim and I we had…" he blushed, sinking under the sheets feeling horribly embarrassed, "ack."

To his right lay Zim with half lidded eyes, a living testament to the odd way Irken's slept. With some hand waving Dib guessed he was still quite deep in slumber. That was ok, Dib thought as he slumped deeper into the bed, he was pretty damn tired too. However, curiosity was slowly getting the better of him as he watched Zim sleep, noticing the antennae slumped down on his head. He really wanted to know what that weird sound had been about, so he reached out touching the odd appendages making note to be gentle. He stroked them, realizing they slightly twitched each time he did. Fascinating. Maybe they had more to do with sensation then noisemaking. In a flash however, Zim had snatched Dib's hand and rolled so he was on top of him.

"Unless you want a repeat of last night," he said markedly, "you should stop that."

This sudden act unnerved him to no end. He swallowed not entirely certain how he had felt about the previous evening, let alone if he wanted a second go.

"Zim," he said licking his lips nervously, "I think we have to talk about this."

Zim rolled over and up, sitting on the edge of the bed collecting things off the floor. Clothes, Dib had presumed, since stuff was probably still strewn chaotically about the base from their frantic movements last night.

He propped himself up on his elbows, " I can understand you not really knowing what proper intimate relationships are like between humans but," he sighed noting that Zim didn't really seem to be paying attention, " this wasn't entirely morally proper."

"It didn't have to be," was the staid answer.

Clothes were tossed at him and he gladly donned his threads again, considering them armour against any future attacks Zim might wage against his newly deflowered flesh.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, suddenly offended by the prospect of being a one night stand.

"I meant it was part of the plan," Zim said, smiling while dressing himself, apparently perfectly happy with the entire situation.

"Uh…," Dib paused considering, "plan huh? What 'plan' might this be?" he was growing exceedingly bitter about this whole situation.

"World domination," was the cheerful reply.

Dib blinked, "I thought you gave that up ages ago!"

"No no, not world conquest. Domination. Genetic domination." Zim stressed as though these words magically explained every thought going through his Irken head.

Dib flopped back on the pillows frustrated, "you're not making any sense!" he flustered, "we had sex, not entirely with my consent and now you say it was all part of some plan? I don't get you."

He felt miserable, accurately he felt like a girl who had just discovered she had been used by her prom date for a cheap night.

Zim looked at him, obviously confused by his anger, "to possess a human, you have to have intercourse correct? To mate and be one with each other that is the proper mode of operations is it not?"

Well, Dib hadn't though of it that way. But still…

"That's how humans and most lifeforms procreate is it not?" Zim said triumphantly, exalted in his perceived understanding of foreign concepts.

Dib laughed, "is that what this is about? Geez Zim I'm a guy. You can't procreate with a guy!"

Zim laughed just as haughtily as though Dib has just said the most absurd bunch of rubbish ever spoken, "as if THAT matters to the mighty Irkens! They've been invading planets genetically since the birth of space travel. We don't 'impregnate' like you pathetic humans, we LAY EGGS. They can set anywhere, in any body quite naturally." He grinned relishing in victory, "I've laid eggs in you Dib, and mellenia from now, when we're both long dead that Irken genetic information will be transferred into every human being on Earth. It's a slow process, but after years of considering it, grand enough and full of such vision that it's the only way the mighty Zim could even conceive of striking a lovely blow for his beloved home planet Irk. Screw the Tallest and their modern apathetic invasions. This is …EMOTIONS… that most feared substance on Irk put to work for the greatest Invader there ever was!"

"Whoah." He thought as his mind mentally played the rant back, "Eggs!" Worse yet, those could only mean, "KIDS? Zim you fucking KNOCKED ME UP!" he shot up from the bed with the force of his revelation, "are you insane!"

"Beautiful isn't it?" Zim said obviously lost in his doomy dream world, "the perfect plan. Requires little effort, only two genetic donors."

It was too much. He stood up more enraged then he had ever remembered in his life.

"Ok, so let me get this straight. You drugged me, took my virginity, laid EGGS in me all in the name of some stupid plan?" he shrieked, "do have any idea how messed up my life is going to after this! Kids are very serious things Zim! Christ, do you even have any idea what children are like!"

Zim looked up, shocked at the sudden harshness, "I don't see what the fuss is about Dib. Sacrificing a small part of your life for procreation is considered noble by most species."

Dib's eyes watered. He was upset with Zim but realised yelling would get him nowhere, the alien was too damned stuck in his neurotic visions to realise anything besides himself.

"I'm upset Zim," he spat, "because you took something from me without me permission, because knowingly you did something that directly affects my life without even considering the consequences, because above all I though we were friends, but I guess things are different now."

He collected his trench from the floor then headed towards the door. Zim jumped up, reaching for his arm.

"Don't touch me!" he screamed, startling the alien into submission.

Zim looked hurt, his eyes pained enough that it almost made Dib burst into tears right there. However, the shred of dignity still clinging to his shattered self esteem wouldn't let him. He wouldn't' let Zim see him vulnerable and hurt by such a stupid thing.

"Where are you going?" the soft tone of Zim's voice broke his heart.

He sighed, "to sleep. To think and above all," the anger returned, "to try and abort whatever the fuck you put in me."

His departure was uneventful. Zim didn't follow him, and not even the robot was in the living room when the elevator dropped him off at the surface. He ran the short distance home with tears brimming in his eyes. It was early morning luckily, there would be no one was around to see him sobbing like a child for some reason he didn't understand. It wasn't the situation that he was in, that could be dealt with later, he just inexplicably felt guilty about the pain Zim had exhibited in his eyes. The soft way his voice silently pleaded for him to stay. As he collapsed into his bed, the wetness filled his eyes even as he fell into a deep and troubled sleep. Zim filled his dreams.

Dib slithered downstairs feeling what he could only describe as wasted. His hair was plastered in every which way, the robe he wore was the only relatively clean part of him while under it were the jeans and shirt he had worn to Zim's yesterday. He probably reeked but couldn't really tell since as soon as he found the breakfast table he promptly let his head slump face first into it. Gaz looked up briefly from her video game, raised an eyebrow in surprise and then averted her gaze to the piggy vampires she was currently slaughtering.

Dib sighed, his head hurt and things were just so bloody confusing.

"Gaz, I have a problem," he said, "And despite the horrible things we've done to each other as children you've GOT to help me."

She didn't even so much as look up, merely grunted a "hn" and continued playing.

Taking this as an affirmative signal he continued, "something happened last night," there was no way he was going to go into any detail about THAT yet, "and there was an incident."

Graz raised an eyebrow," well you're still alive. It couldn't have been that great."

"You are SO funny," Dib said bitterly. "This is really serious Gaz, I don't know what to do so could you PLEASE for once just listen?"

The video game was set down as delicately as a new born puppy," ok Dib sure. But you owe me one." she said, accentuating the seriousness by glaring.

"My friend Zim, the alien," he began, but was promptly cut off.

"Wait wait," Gaz said her eyes lighting up assertively," you two did

it, and now you've got a little 'problem'."

Dib's mouth hung open, " how did you know that!"

She shrugged, "Zim's stupid little robot hangs out here all the time. Him and that moose thing stopped by last night after a rave and said they had to be all quiet. So they hung out here. Between the squeaks and insane babble about 'plans' I figured it out."

"Wonderful," groaned Dib, "just fucking great."

She said haughtily under her breath," never thought I'd live to see the day when you'd get some."

His head shot up faster then lightening as the most irritated gaze Dib could muster was shot in her direction.

"I've got some alien parasite growing in me and that's all you have to say?" spat Dib, grinding his head further into the 1950's linoleum table.

"How bad is it?" she asked.

"I don't know," he mumbled, "Zim didn't really say anything. I left his house this morning too pissed off to ask."

"That's kinda mean," Gaz said, making a face in his general direction.

"No, no it's not. If you knew the situation," he said, then stopped realising there was no way he was going to go any further then that.

Gaz looked at him sceptically, then thought better of it and dropped the subject.

"So what are you going to do with your alien babies?" she said smirking pointing to his abdomen.

He opened his mouth to speak then snapped it shut. He really didn't know.

"You could try and kill them if you really wanted to," Gaz said.

"No," Dib said sighing, "I've decided I can't really do that. They half belong to Zim. That just wouldn't be right."

"You and your morals," she said making a face.

Dib gave her a dirty look.

"In any case Dib," she said with an evil grin, "what're you going to tell dad?"

"Ack!" the thought almost choked him to death. What in the world was he going to tell his Dad?

"Hey dad I did the nasty with an alien invader who had big plans for this planet and now I'm having his baby!"

If that didn't sound like a Jerry Springer headline nothing did. He'd probably get tossed in the loony bin again, most likely under the recommendation of his own father. He would have to wait until the damn thing was born, naturally undeniable proof would put sanity on his side, for once. His dad wouldn't be able to deny some half alien thing breed sitting right in front of him.

"We'll see after its born," he sighed.

"Probably a good idea," Gaz agreed, "although," her smile widened, "I wonder if you'll show."

The mortification apparent on Dib's face was worth the milk that was tossed at her after.

Dib was resting in bed. It was a week and a half since that incident, and the discussion with Gaz. Zim hadn't come around, although silently Dib wished he would so he could figure out what the hell was going on. He was always tired and drained, barely able to get up, uninterested food and most probably failing a few more of his classes then he could afford. After such a short amount of time, Dib wasn't sure if that was supposed to be happening. Then again Zim had grown almost 3 feet in a week, maybe Irkens had something in their biology that made them develop faster. He had taken a scope to his abdomen to see what the eggs had been doing. It had been interesting upon his initial inspection, to find them sitting in a tiny sac barely noticeable just above the pubic area resting peacefully. It didn't seem to be growing bigger but it was moving a little. Dib put the scope down and then collapsed on the bed. He was exhausted, and just wanted to know what the hell was happening in there. His pride however, kept him from getting Gaz to find Zim, although he had heard from the commotion downstairs that Gir had been over once or twice. That was hardly unusual in any event so Dib thought nothing of it. The truth was he missed Zim. A lot.

"Dib you want anything," Gaz peeked her head in the door.

"No, I'm fine," was his weak reply.

His sister had been very nice during the whole ordeal. She was worried about him, putting aside whatever minute differences they had shared during their childhood to tend to him like a newborn pup. In fact she was excited about the prospect of being an aunt. Surprisingly she had shown an interest in children since babysitting in middle school, mostly because though they were people, many had yet to develop a person's habitual attitudes and prejudices that really pissed a girl like Gaz off to no end.

"If you need anything just call," she said, closing the door.

His room was enveloped in darkness. Light hurt his eyes a lot for some reason; he wished he knew. Where was Zim anyway? Wasn't his whole plan rant about how important these kids were to his masterful domination? Maybe even 'superior' Irkens had the potential to be dead-beat fathers…

A noise startled him, coming from downstairs.

Gaz's conversation floated up, "Yeah he's in his room. Uh-huh. No he's not in good shape. He can't eat anything. I don't know why and he can't figure it out. Uh-huh. I'll see. Just a second."

Footsteps headed up to his room. His stomach was in knots. He had a vague idea what this could be about.

"Dib," Gaz said, "Zim's here. He really wants to see you."

He released an inward sigh of relief. Maybe he would have an answer to his problems. But as he though more about it, anger flooded him. Screw him, he thought, his carelessness had already caused a grave situation, Zim didn't' deserve another chance like this, at least not when he was weak and cornered in his room.

"Tell him to fuck off," was his mumbled reply. His stomach was hurting terribly. He clutched it wincing.

"Jesus Dib, he can help you. You're obviously in pain," she said irritated, "there might be something wrong."

Dib wrenched himself up from the bed propelled by the combined forces of pain, annoyance and general frustration over the past few weeks.

"Look, tell him to go away alright? He's already done enou-" Dib's sentence was cut off. He clutched his stomach, in intense pain, then much to Gaz's horror promptly passed out.

The place he woke up in was definitely not his home. Alien equipment surrounded him, as a soft blue glow assailed the tiny cracks his eyelids allowed him to open.

"Is he going to be ok?" he recognised is sister's voice asking.

"Yes. He's suffered some stress from the birthing but should be fine. He left them too long, stupid human." He knew it was Zim when he felt the tri pronged claws touch his forehead. His world swerved once again, and unwillingly he closed his eyes.

Next he woke up was in a bed. The big red one he and Zim had spent their first night together in. The covers were soft and nice, relaxing Dib until he heard something strange beside him. He cracked an eyelid. A little boy was looking at him. He looked to be about 4 years old, with black hair covering his head spilling over one eye.

He was poked in the nose, "mama?" the little creature said.

Dib blinked.

"Hey, you're awake!" It was Gaz, grinning at him from a plush red chair.

He struggled himself to a sitting position, however, as soon as his lap became available the boy snuggled up in the space and promptly dosed off.

"Is that…" he was in shock.

"Yeah," said Gaz evidently pleased, "Ain't he cute?"

Dib stared at him. The kid definitely looked human, there wasn't a smidgen of green anywhere, nor any other evidence of alien genetics. As Dib pondered, he realised suddenly the child had had red eyes. Normal human eyes but the iris was coloured a ruby flaming red, just like Zim's were. This was the only visible thing that attested to his questionable origins. The little kid was dressed well too. Black pants and a green t-shirt with the Irken sign emblazoned on it. Definitely Zim's hallmark.

'But he looks like, well," he stuttered, unable to finish.

"Yeah a lot older then just a couple days. It's really complicated, but Zim said in a nut shell that your kids had to be grown part way in tubes or something because of some weird stuff I didn't understand," said Gaz evidently confused.

He didn't have time to dwell on that because he noticed Zim had been quietly behind him the whole time watching him and their child bond.

His face flushed slightly, "Zim, how was…our kid born?"

Zim sat behind him on the bed, petting the child on the head his arm just barely brushing past Dib's, "the eggs were cut out. They had to be, you got sick because they were left to mature too long. Smeets don't take a very long time to reach that stage of development. There's a small cut on your abdomen but it should be gone soon. His name is Gurn."

"Hey," Dib said slightly annoyed, "who said you got to name him?"

"I didn't," Zim said pointing towards Gaz, "she insisted."

Gaz grinned, "I'm so proud of you Dibbers," she said sticking her tongue out at him, "it's a cute little freak."

Dib shot her a look, "he's not a freak. He's a …"

"Beautiful ingenious plan, brought to fruition by the most perfect of humans and diligent of Invaders," Zim finished.

The words made Dib flush with emotion.

Gaz made a face, "you two are grossing me out. I'll leave you two alone now. Gir probably wants some company." She said, winking at her brother.

She left, leaving them to work out their situation without her warm sisterly meddling.

Nothing would ever be resolved in Dib's eyes. No real conversations had or would ever take place about the anger he had felt after their initial relations. After looking in his child's eyes and seeing Zim evidenced in their intelligent depths, that was all he needed. Zim was not about to leave him or abandon him, he realized then, and without any words their love rested in the air unspoken. Zim's devotion was enough, and Dib's reciprocation was all that was needed.

Their days passed without event from that time, even when Dib found out he couldn't graduate high school because of his absences during his short lived 'pregnancy'. It was all right he decided. He could work in his dad's lab, gain some experience in the science field while totally avoiding the whole paranormal thing. Who the hell needed big foot when he had his own alien partner to contend with? It was like every dream he ever held dear had just come true. And what of his father's reaction to Gurn's presence and undeniable evidence of alien life? His dad with the calm calculating approach accepted it all undaunted, brushing over the alien bit without concern, merely obsessed with the fact he had a grandchild.

"I never thought this day would come!" he had said proudly picking up Gurn much to the boy's delight, " what with you and Gaz having unusual personalities hostile to relationships," his father's comment had made his sister's eye twitch much to his amusement.

Even their family life looked up, since their Dad was granted extra time off from work to spend it with his grandchild.

Everything was perfect, with only one small addition to be made to the close knit family Zim had inadvertently created with his high brow plan.

Zim had been staying over at Dib's house once in a while, so Gaz Gir and Gurn could hang out. Gaz loved spending time with the kid while Gir was endlessly amused by him, being childlike itself.

In the privacy of Dib's room, late at night while the others were asleep and Gurn was safely nestled in Gaz's room, Zim had taken the opportunity for some private time between the two of them. He had been pressing earlier that Gurn needed a sibling, but Dib had been reluctant. The birthing process had not been pleasant, so he wasn't real keen to try it again. However, that night in the throngs of passion, while Zim was stifling their moans by adamantly working Dib's mouth with kisses, he felt that strange sensation again in his nether regions. His mind elsewhere at the time he hardly registered it.

The next day he crawled down to breakfast, obviously very tired and the last one at the table. Zim was eating his favourite, toast, while Gir was making waffles much to Gurn's delight. Gaz stared at him for a moment, looking him and up down.

Then she said smiling, "he knocked you up again huh?"

Ooo, if looks could have killed.

Deen was born a few weeks later. She was much like her brother in appearance except with the slight difference of vibrant purple hair. Her personality was vivacious and hyper, almost enough to keep up with Gir. She had been born almost a year later then her brother, but could already talk almost as sufficiently as he could. With her presence their happiness was complete, unchallenged by anything in the world. Dib had felt at the time, absolutely invincible to anything life could throw at him. He didn't know only a few years later the happiness he shared would be ripped away so cruelly, so completely he would never capture it again. None the less these were his happy times, the moments when returned to in memory, no matter how bad the day had been, would always make him smile.

He was smiling now, in the lonely fields as the stars shone down on him from above. The night sky made him think of Zim, which brought soft tears to his eyes. Gurn and Deen had grown up so well, despite the nightmare that happened to them so soon after their first steps into life. It made Dib return to the bitterness so deeply that the moment was ruined. He had to leave, to run from this paradise lost in his SUV, past the fields that brought out the memories of the dead and dying, his friends, family and Zim.

The car door clicked closed. This was the hardest part of his yearly visit, the long drive back to the house he shared with his remaining family deep in the countryside. On this monotonous drive, there was enough space and distraction to tear his focus from the reality of the now, to twist him back into those thoughts he had tried to abort. To the nightmare. To the beginning of his end, to Zim and all the hurt he carried because of his selfish actions. Yes, as he rounded the first turn in the road he was already lost on that fateful journey. The journey through time, memory and regret. Like Odysseus, he had to endure this long personal trial before finally returning home.


	5. Two Of Us: Meltdown

Two of Us: Chapter 5 - Meltdown

Time had its way of diluting events, blurring them as they happened into a mix of present and past. The future was a possibility born from the culmination of these things, each moment changing and transforming into a way of life. A thousand possible futures existed, a thousand possible interpretations of events. Dib knew a few, the government knew others; he considered his the truth.

After he had regained his sanity, deep inside a government complex they had brandished him a traitor. For quite some time he had been kept down there mad as a hatter, unable to process the sequence of events that would probably haunt him the rest of his life. Eventually things became clear and they knew what he had known all along, no one sacrifices a piece of themselves for something they hate. Zim had not been the enemy, he had been one of the victims and Dib had been his accomplice, no matter how little he managed to do in the end. They gave him freedom, a settlement and the strict order that if he wanted something akin to a normal life for his children, he'd never speak about the ordeal again. They were left in peace. Thankfully no one ever questioned the origin of his son or daughter, or their strange red coloured irises.

While Deen held little recognition towards the strange events that shaped her upbringing, Gurn still had some memories. For years he had nightmares and woke up screaming a name that pained Dib to hear.

"Don't leave me," was always the cry, "don't leave me and daddy!"

Now the poor kid was aloof as ever. Almost the way Gaz had been when she and Dib had been kids. Of course, Dib blamed himself for this and all the time he spent trying to piece together a past that wouldn't let him go. He felt a lot of guilt, for a long time he could barely stand to see his children, everything they did reminded him of that awful day.

One day. One second was all it took. The moment when reality breaks, cracks and thunders around, screaming then dead, covered in pain. Like blood in water. It dilutes and poisons everything. Such a thin line quivering, before snapping into hell, it had all been like a dream. A horrible evil nightmare.

The clock chimed. 4 Pm.

"Where's Dad?" he wondered idly.

Dib sat restless. Gurn was sketching on the floor quite happily, for the first time in a while Gaz had taken Deen out with her, leaving Gurn to his own devices without his hyper sister to crawl all over him. Zim and GIR were at the base, minimoose followed Deen wherever she went squeaking happily, thus was with them at the school, where Gaz was doing a favour for Dib signing kindergarten papers.

He sighed. If he had an idea his dad would be this late, he would have taken Deen himself.

The phone rang, startling him.

"Hello?" he said, picking it up.

"Dib, where's Deen and Gaz?" it was Zim.

"Out at the school signing papers. Why? What's going on?" there was something not right about Zim'z voice. And odd kind of urgency. He sounded almost afraid.

"Take Gurn and meet me at the hidden voot in the woods," he said.

"Zim, what the hell is happening? Why are you so scared?" Dib pressed.

"LEAVE RIGHT NOW!" he shrieked, then regained his composure, "please," he finished, voice cracking.

The phone went dead. Dib stared at it for a few long moments before setting it down.

He didn't' bother to gather anything up, just picked up Gurn who protested loudly at being torn away from his picture. He still clutched the cute rendition of Dib and Zim holding hands to his chest.

"Daddy," Gurn whimpered, "what's happening?"

"It's ok Gurn. Zim just wants to see us," Dib lied.

"You sound scared daddy," Gurn's skeptic eyes broke his heart.

"It's gonna be ok," Dib said smiling, "we're just going to go see Zim in the park."

He left the house as a neighbour peeked his head out of the door.

"Hey Membrane," the gruff large man spoke, "does your tv work?"

"I don't know," he said staring back at the man oddly.

"God damn cable company, my sister's is shot too, same with all the neighbors. They better get on their asses and fix it this time," the man grumbled as he wandered back into his house.

Dib had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Somehow he knew this had something to do with the weird events of the day.

"Look daddy," Gurn had said pointing to a black car pulling up by Zim's base.

Two men got out wearing black suits, ties and dark sunglasses. He recognized them from the government, sometimes his father got a lot of unwanted attention for what he did. They were goons for sure.

"C'mon Gurn we've got to high tail it," he said, dragging the curious little boy away from their house.

They had no car, so the two walked to the park, Dib trying to hide his fear from Gurn who was obviously frightened by everything going on. Something strange caught his eye as he momentarily turned his head to look at the sky. The wind picked up around him, and he heard the hum of a ship as it flew above.

"What the-" he said, noting the Irken symbol blazing across it's bottom.

Suddenly, the sky turned dark, filled to the brim with Irken ships, corporate logos blazing filling the whole expanse like a swarm.

His jaw went slack from the shock, they flew high above bee-lining it for their neighborhood. He wasn't prepared for the first explosion. It threw him and Gurn down the hill, rolling as smoke filled their lungs into the trees. He had managed to grab onto Gurn which was lucky, since debris was flying everywhere. Two strong arms picked him and Gurn up, clutching Gurn and the hands that saved him he ran.

Breathless, he let Gurn down staring at his savior.

"Zim what the hell is happening?" he said, never more glad to see him in his life.

"They came too soon!" he spoke harshly, gesturing towards the smoke that was rising from the neighborhood.

Dib stared at him aghast, "you KNEW!"

"It's not what you think! I had an idea, since when has the armada contacted me about anything? The Tallest wanted to make a deal, I declined. They said it would be years before they ever touched a dirtball like Earth," he said helplessly.

"I guess they lied!" Dib said horrified.

"It's not like I was the only one! Your father knew before I did, it was only because your father told me that I-"

"Dad told you and not me! And you never said a thing!" his voice was raised now, causing Gurn to hide behind his knees.

"It doesn't matter. There is an ounce of hope left, I'm going to try and do the impossible. Stall the armada until your worthless human 'armies' can contain them!" he hissed bitterly.

Zim pointed at the ship, "you and Gurn will stay there until it's safe to return."

"What! No! What the hell! You and dad were in cahoots? Why the hell wasn't anyone warned!" Dib screamed, anger and rage filling him to the brim, "people are DYING!"

"And we'd all be dead too if you're idiot government did what they were planning! Your father talked them out of it! Nuclear holocaust Dib!" he screamed, "They were going to kill everyone to protect their ridiculous 'assets'. They don't understand! Earth has no assets that the Tallest care about, if they killed themselves all the better to them! They're probably going to make this planet into a pile of rubble! Because they think it's fun! That's what they do!"

Dib stood transfixed in his position, staring angrily at Zim. He had no words to describe the betrayal he felt by both parties, his father and his lover.

"I'm not leaving," he said through gritted teeth.

"Fine," Zim said, promptly grabbing him and throwing him into the voot.

"Zim!" Dib cried, as he was chucked in, "arg! Stop it! I want to help!"

Gurn was thrown in second on his chest, winding him momentarily. He scrabbled to get up, just able to press his hands against the glass dome that had just shut. The voot lifted as Dib and Zim's eyes met for the last time. Dib face pressed to the glass could see the look on his face, it was tragic, it made him want to cry. In a few seconds Zim's face faded, the grass became sky, the sky became space and the voot was adrift facing out into the cold blackness.

"Dammit! Zim!" Dib screamed in frustration, slamming his hands against the comm panel.

Gurn had pressed his knees to his chest, sniffing, his eyes watering.

They were adrift above the Earth facing away from it, Dib couldn't even tell what was going on down there if he wanted to. He tried each panel systematically; they were frozen. The code used on them was so foreign that Dib wouldn't be able to move them for ages.

He sighed, "Gurn, we may be stuck here for a while."

Sniffing, eyes growing wetter Gurn looked up pitiably from the floor, "did Zim abandon us?"

"No," he replied, wrapping his arms around his son, "he was trying to protect us."

They stayed wrapped up in each other's arms, Dib trying to comfort Gurn the best he could, for a very long time.

Hours later, a bleeping sound was hear on the comm. panel.

Dib jumped up, and rushed over.

"What the-" he said as the communicator came online.

"Dib!" it was Gaz's voice over the computer, "looks like you and Gurn need a lift!"

He looked up at the window and there was Gaz driving Tak's ship with Deen beside her, pressing her face to the glass, minimoose bumping against her with glee.

"Daddy!" he could hear Deen's happy squeal through the communication device.

Never in his life had he been this happy to see Gaz in that crazy ship.

"I'm taking us back to Earth Dib. Prepare for a piggy back, it's gonna be a little rough," Gaz said triumphantly.

Though the comm. panels were locked and Dib couldn't even hack enough code to send a message, Gaz had somehow rigged up her ship to chatter with theirs, allowing her ship to connect to his and cart them through space. The ride was bumpy and a bit rough but soon they were near Earth. What greeted them was a monstrous collection of Armada vessels all b-lining it towards their planet. Amongst these swarms of ships was a huge behemoth with an Irken logo proudly painted across the front.

"That's the Massive isn't it," he whispered to himself, "the Irken leaders are here."

"Daddy," Gurn tugged on his jacket, eyes pleading, "are they going to hurt people?"

Dib swallowed, "maybe. But if they do we'll just have to hurt them back until they leave."

His son clung to him, trembling.

The landing was rocky, but everyone on board had made it back safely to Earth.

"Gaz," Dib called as he exited the ship, "where are we?"

She ran out holding Deen's hand towards him, minimoose following close behind.

"Dad knew all along Dib, "she said, "he told me to take Tak's ship into space. The firm he was working for the last few years, they knew about Zim."

Dib' heart sunk to the bottom of his chest, "what did they know?" His thoughts were immediately concerning his children's safety.

"Not a lot. But they figured out where he lived after a while. Lucky for us people are so fu- er bloody stupid," she said while restraining Deen from tackling her brother.

"Let her go Gaz," Dib said, smiling at her happy energy despite the situation.

"GURN!" the little girl squealed, latching onto her older brother. He seemed to reluctantly allow the aggressive hug, if only because he was still nervous and trembling. Dib knew his oldest kid vaguely understood what was going on, he hoped for the most part he wouldn't suffer trauma from these experiences. Beside the whole, "my other dad is an alien" thing.

Dib looked around. The area looked…familiar, but there was so much rubble lying around he couldn't be sure.

"Where are we Gaz?" he asked.

She was looking around too, obviously noticing exactly where they were for the first time.

"Shit. I thought we were close to Dad's lab I guess…wait," her eyes scanned over the rubble to a point where black smoke was rising.

"You don't think," Dib started, his eyes going wide.

They both grabbed a kid and took off running towards the smoke afraid of what they might see. In fact they really wished they hadn't brought the two kids when they got to the heap of smoldering rubble that once was their father's lab.

Dib stared, jaw agape. The place was hardly there anymore. Just a pile of cement, still burning…and that smell. He clutched his hand to his nose.

"Oh no no no," he shook his head, something in him slowly cracking, "you KNEW! You bastard!" Dib cried, dropping to the ground in frustration, "you kept me out because you knew!"

Gaz stared from him, to the rubble and back to where Deen and Gurn were clinging to each other with frightened expressions written over their faces.

"What are you talking about? Dib what the hell is that disgusting smell?" Gaz said, muffled through the sleeve of her sweater.

"It's bodies," he said hopelessly.

"What!" she said, eyes growing larger by the minute.

"IT'S BODIES!" he screamed, "fucking corpses! And dad's one of them!" he hit his fists against the cement.

"Geez Dib be careful what you say," she said quietly, glancing over at the two kids huddled together, "calm down. We don't know Dad's in there."

"Membrane?" a voice called.

Dib and Gaz both looked up.

"Ah yes, Dib and Gaz. I'm so glad you're alive!" the man who was wearing a slightly dirtied lab coat smiled at them warmly, " he was so worried about you."

"Dad!" Gaz said, "where is he!"

"Oh, quit dead I'm afraid," the man said still grinning stupidly looking over the rubble, "but at least I've found his children safe and sound."

"What the hell is your problem you sicko!" Dib said, infuriated.

The man was obviously a little far gone, what with the whole grinning at utter destruction and loss of life thing. On top of that, what the hell was wrong with his arm? It hung limply at his side, oozing…something.

"Maybe you should go see a doctor about that," he said, nodding at the infected appendage.

"Oh that," the man said, seemingly dejected, "well there's nothing I can do about that. Once that damn infection gets into you, you're as good as dead."

Dib just stared. He didn't like where this was going. The man also had his hand in his other pocket, holding something. The situation was dangerous. He just wanted to get his kids and Gaz out of here as soon as possible. Not to mention they had minimoose with them, which was a little incriminating.

"You know it was his last dying wish," he said, an eerie smile creeping up on his lips, "to die for you and your sister. Nothing else mattered, not fame not fortune, he could have been in cahoots with the government, gave away your little alien friend there. Oh yes, don't look so frightened, we knew about him a long time ago. But doing something, oh no, not Membrane. Things had gotten very familiar between you and him, pity."

The hand in the coat pocket twitched.

"Thus we are here, come to this. Because you got involved with the enemy, with those disgusting creatures that rain infecting death upon anyone that gets cut with their weapons. Have you been out lately Membrane children? The suffering being caused is stupendous. You're entire neighbourhood died screaming in flames," he laughed a low laugh.

"Shut up you lunatic!" Gaz screamed.

"Ah no, I won't. Not until I'm dead and gone like you're dear father. He died valiantly, he died famous. He died protecting you Dib and Gaz, just how he wanted. But I have nothing left now, because of him and his poisonous brood."

The gun slid out, cocked initially at Dib, then wavering between him and Gaz.

"Or maybe," it went towards his children, "I'll get rid of the putrid half breeds first."

His eyes cold as ice narrowed, infected arm glistening in the faint light from the clouds, but he would never shoot. Just as he was about to let loose, a piece of metal crashed from the sky, a ship came hurtling down from above crushing him instantly, bringing up all the wretched burnt cropses from the ground and heaving them and Dib over the rubble pile. He heard Gaz and his children screaming, then everything went black.

He woke up, in a small pool of his own blood with significant pain going through his arm. The place reeked, the cinnamon smell of the dead wrapping around his nostrils, while blackened tar replaced air. He had to move he knew. The fires would reach here soon, and there was all that kindling around him. He crawled to his knees, remaining so for some time, inching himself across the putrid groundcover until he could stand.

"Gaz!" he screamed as loud as he could, "Gurn! Deen! Where are you?" he began to sob, "Zim! Where are you…" his voice petered out. There was no energy left in him to shout, whatever remained in his body he had to use to get away; that was becoming obvious as he saw the orange lights get closer. Tears ran down his face. Had everyone just died, to leave him alone?

He stumbled for hours in twilight, the sun streaking down. He didn't know where he was or where he was going. There were bodies everywhere, stinking corpses, not a living soul to be found. It seemed to him the whole world was dead and only he was left to mourn it.

Then hope struck him.

In front of him, behind a great slab of concrete there was a hospital. It was recongisalbe as the main one that once was in the center of town. He must have walked to the city, which meant he had to have been trudging from his father's lab for almost 45 minutes. Almost nightfall and he had found a haven to rest in. Or so it seemed.

The place was crowded. His ears were assailed immediately with screaming, moaning and pleading cries.

"Let me die!"

"Mommy!"

"Please I can't take it!"

"She's dead. I'm sorry."

"I don't want to die! Don't let me die! Not like this!"

It overloaded his fragile mindset for a moment, but quickly he regained composure. He had an estimate of time now, a frail idea of where he was, and maybe in this place some help for his arm. Amazing how the little things meant so much in such dire situations.

"Dib..Oh my god it's you!" A voice said separating itself from the crowd.

He stared at the man almost a head above him, who was covered in soot and had bandages over half his body.

"Torque?" he said tentatively.

"Yeah! Oh my god I didn't think I'd ever see you alive!" a far too tight hug was given to him by his old classmate.

"Ouch," he winced.

"Oh hey, you're arm's all fucked up. Hey nurse! This guy needs some help here!" Torque motioned to the bedraggled nurse.

She drug herself over to them, obviously very tired, with a lacklustre look in her eyes. She poked at his arm and he winced.

"No infection. Well have a seat. You're the most hopeful case I've seen all day," the once pretty woman managed a smile.

She bandaged him, while Torque prattled on about old times, apologizing once or twice about beating him up and being a general ass in high school.

"Yeah things all changed once I started going out with Zita," he said, smiling at fond memories.

"Zita! Is she here?" Dib said hopeful. They hadn't spoken in ages, to think she was still alive was…

"Yeah." Torque's head bowed low, "yeah she came in here. I brought her. It was a mess. She died this morning. It was almost a relief. She suffered so much.."

"There all bandaged up, " the nurse said proudly. She left to carry on other work, rushing to a moaning man, then to a burned child, then to someone who's infected wounds almost covered their entire body.

"I'm..so sorry," was all Dib could manage. He swallowed.

"Look Dib, you better leave. See they moved the hospital, all the people here are hopeless cases. They're all going to die anyway, so when the armada comes to destroy it, it won't matter. The only reason this place is still running is because of people like you, who end up in the middle of nowhere without medical help."

"Torque," he said staring at his classmate with a look of horror, "you don't mean to tell me…"

"That's right. We're all gonna die. Children, mothers, siblings and lovers," his eyes watered at the last statement, "but it's ok. Because we're all gonna die together."

Dib shook his head, "no you can't be, you've got to be wrong!"

"Dib," Torque said taking him by the shoulders, "if you want, go upstairs and see Zita. She really liked you, always had good things to say even if she did think you were crazy sometimes. I think she'd want to say farewell."

Dib shook his head, walking backwards, bumping into one person or the other. Wandering people, sick and dying.

_They're all going to die! _

He couldn't handle it. Rushing upstairs he knew he had to be wrong, he knew he had to have just dreamed up this whole thing. He'd wake up tomorrow, and Zim would be in his base working on something, his dad would be in the lab, same old same old. Gaz would have her gameslave and Deen and Gurn would be shoving and laughing with each other.

Running over into a part of the hospital that was relatively intact, he noticed the nameplate on the bedraggled door. Scrawled in wipe away marker the name simply read 'Zita'. He guessed a nurse wrote it there on the wall, since there was no last name and the writing was barely there.

He opened the door. The room had a blue hue. It was dark, there were machines all around. No hum, no smell of sanitation, nothing but cool indigo bathing every part of her face. It was so serene. He almost asked if he could come in, but then he remembered. She wasn't really there at all, this was just a shell. He went over next to her bed, looking down at her face, pretty features rounded out with age, she was almost model material now, with that cute spiky haircut and upturned nose. There was no pain written across her features, she looked only like she was sleeping. He reached out a hand to touch her, but faltered. Tears ran down his face.

"I'm…sorry. I'm so-so sorry." was his whisper to the shadows across the wall, " I meant for us to be friends, but I got so wrapped up in…other things. I really…I really wish things would have been different."

He touched the blanket by her side.

"I think you'd understand if you were in my position," he said quietly, "I really would like to know what happened to you."

He turned back the sheet, then, promptly vomited.

Staggering from the room, hands shaking, wounds throbbing under the bandage, the distorted flesh he saw under that blanket would haunt him the rest of his life. Worse then the wretched corpse that had been Zita, was the knowledge that he had been too late. No words of farewell were spoken between them, no great rumination of their past friendship would ever be discussed, no revelation that for a long time he had crushed over her in the younger grades. Nothing. She was just dead.

Dead, dead, dead.

Like his dreams, like his soul, like everything.

People were screaming around him, hitting his arm, bumping past him.

"They're coming!" was the cry that ran through the halls.

Gurney's were knocked over, medical supplies strewn across the floor. He didn't even know he was outside until he saw the stars on the horizon. Then another explosion happened, worse then the last he had survived through. This one was pure fire. He was thrown backwards by what he presumed was the butt end of a laser, his eyebrows were singed, the tips of his fingers burned however, fate was not merciful enough to let him expire. He rolled down the side of the hill smelling that fetid smell of all smells, while hearing the screams and cries of those unfortunates from the hospital. We'll all die together he had said. What a beautifully idiotic sentiment. Bitterness creeped over him, until all that was left was his angry huddled self clutching at the concrete. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, above all he wanted to accuse the powers that be for being cold heartless bastards to let this happen. But he couldn't. There wasn't a speck of energy left in him, but to seeth on this slab, that he expected would be his tomb. He didn't care anymore, everyone had left him. Where was Zim? He had left him trying to protect him just like his father. Gaz and the others, they could be dead. Hope was never his forte. He needed others to keep him focused and aware that everything was not bad or worth forgetting, but now there was nothing stopping him from sinking into the black hole called sleep and writhing in pain when his dreams only focused on the dead.

"Get up," the voice aggressively spoke into his ear.

He twitched at the cold metal pressed against his face.

"I said, get up."

He tried to stand but collapsed in a heap. He couldn't see. What happened to his glasses?

"I said Membrane," the arms that grabbed him were rough, "get up."

He was supported by two dark blurs that gradually became recognizable as the suited men he had seen at Zim's house earlier.

"You're under arrest Dib Membrane for cavorting with the enemy," he barely heard the words coming out of their mouths, " for aiding and abaiting the enemy, for…" and the rest continued on as a warble in his head. He was deadpanning quite literally on the inside. Everything hurt he was burned and in pain, and…what had they just said about Zim?

"…in aiding the deceased Invader Zim in his invasion."

Deceased.

"You're wrong," he gasped, "you're so FUCKING WRONG!" he screamed and thrashed only to have the blunt end of a revolver hit him on the back of the head.

It wasn't enough to knock him out, so he got a few more along with some solid hits across the face. When he was broken and compliant enough they dragged him away, slowly from the slab of concrete that still showcased some of his blood.

For months he was in a dark government prison deep within the Earth. Interrogations, beatings, threats everything. At one point when they were dragging him down the hall, still bleeding, he heard a voice scream out, "daddy!" and that was the way he found out his children were still alive. What were they doing to them? It pained him to think. If they hurt them and he got out of this alive…but he couldn't even defend himself. Not from the government goons, not from his nightmares, not from the horrible memories that haunted him. He was a broken man in the most literal of senses. And what about the infection that had started at the tips of his fingers? Would he die covered in it like Zita?

It would be weeks later when another government faction took over. The dark goons were dismissed, to be replaced by soft spoken gentlemen in suits.

"The war is over Dib."

It came as a shock.

The other one spoke, "we also know about your story," it was said in such a soothing manner, " we know about your children. They're safe, and in good hands."

He remembered expelling a short demented laugh in relief.

"And we've found Gaz. She's suffered some injuries but will be fine. Also, there's something we'd like you to see before we let you go home."

Home. Ha he had thought. What the hell was there to go home too?

" It's what cleared your name."

And so he had been propped up in a dank cement room with three 'bodygaurds' of sorts, while he watched a tape that had been recovered out of the wreckage. It had been from his old video camera, the one he had used to tape footage of Zim ages ago, when they had been kids.

The video began to play.

"UGH! Stupid Stink technology."

The video camera vaulted to the side, with a lovely close up of Gir's face.

"AH LIKE CHEESE!"

"Arg! Out of the way GIR! There!"

Ah it was definitely Zim.

"Now, Gir, CONCENTRATE. We must contact the other stinkbeast war machines."

One of the men spoke, "your father had talked him into this. He said if anything happened this would clear his name and yours."

Dib watched on, unfettered by their talking.

"It was a miracle the tape survived the crash," the other man said, "but thankfully it did and our unfortunate…misconceptions were erased."

The focus went back to the movie.

"ATTENTION Stink-beasts! This is the mighty ZIM! Former Irken Invader. If you want your stupid stink civilization to exist you will listen to ZIM and his ingenious plan."

Apparently the broadcast had been caught by stations all over the world, the radio communication system had been left intact despite Irkens wiping out almost everything else. Something that primitive they thought, could not be of any value. They had been wrong.

"H2O will burn Irkens on contact, Sonars will destroy their equipment. Follow my lead to win a glorious battle in the name of your home planet EARTH."

A few other vainglorious speeches were made by the master himself, while Gir did a song and dance routine in the background. It was almost enough to put a smile back on Dib's face. Almost…

Then something horrible happened.

The tape had been cut to this point. The cockpit looked different. What had Zim been in anyway? It appeared to be some kind of mech. Steam was rising from the floor and he was darting to and fro trying to fix things. Then a darker shadow loomed up from the front, and Zim shook his fist in its direction.

"Master?" Gir squealed.

"QUICK Gir! Hit the eject auuUUUGGHH!"

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

Crunching glass and static could be heard along with a few good Gir screams, the screen flickered a few times, but it when it became clear for the last and final moment, deadly shards of glass could be seen descending along with blood spattering the edges of the camera. It went dark after that. The tape cut. The room was now filled eerily with a static glow.

Dib did some intense screaming of his own.

"There, you're pretty much recovered now," the nurse said, patting his bandaged hand.

His last day at the government building. He had been absolved, apologies for his grief had been made, and they had given him wads of cash, a job if he so chose and a secluded house to call home, in a town where no one would ask questions. The clean-up was all too simple.

"Can you imagine, so many people dying when all they needed to do was douse the cuts in water. All the technology in the world and people never even thought," she chattered.

It was true. Water got rid of the infection, like it did weaker Irkens, burning it away until clean skin and organs were left underneath. All those people had only needed one simple thing to survive but no one had even tried. The irony was almost painful.

He had gone to what he called home. Gaz had been with him. So had Deen and Gurn but he could barely register their presence. He couldn't even speak, he lay like a mute on his bed, locked away upstairs for weeks. His sister being patient with him, knowing somehow he had gone through worse things then anxiety over two kids and a hospital stay, looked after Deen and Gurn for him while nursing her damaged leg. For the rest of her life, she would have a limp and walk with a cane. One didn't come out unscathed when two tons of flying cement crushed your foot. Dib sometimes could hear Gurn and Deen crying. Deen especially a few days after they arrived.

"My moose!" she cried, "my moose was squished!"

Her sobs could be heard all the way upstairs. Gurn was always quiet, until night. Then he would scream a name Dib didn't want to hear over and over until his throat grew hoarse or Gaz came from her room to comfort him. He couldn't bear to leave his sanctuary, everything about them, everything they said, was a reminder of _him_. He didn't want to get angry, he didn't want to cry in front of his children. They deserved to come out of this with as few emotional scars as possible. He didn't think him not being around for a little while would hurt them as much as it did.

Later, he took the offered job with a newspaper. The world had recovered, people went on. Everyone had a story, but soon they just stopped talking about it. It hurt to see how people could carry on with their everyday normal lives when he couldn't even possibly think of doing the same. None the less he tried. He took a job. He tried to be a father. But so much for so long would remind him of those horrible days and send him right back to square one.

The car was parked on the side of the road. Its lights were out. Dib pressed his head to the steering wheel, sobbing. It was always so hard after remembering, it was always so hard to go on. Almost impossible, every time he came out there to go back home. The beautiful memories burned in his head along with the vapid smoldering ones, lighting up his vision, blurring it, making it wet with tears. He stared out at the sky. A shooting star went by, almost like a dream of happier times.

He cleared his throat, and wiped his eyes.

It was possible though. He could go home, he'd see Gurn and Deen and Gaz in the morning. They'd be happy and safe. It didn't matter how hurt he was or what he had done in the past as long as that could be assured for the future. It was the only thing he had worth living for. It was all he had.


	6. Two of Us: Finale

Two of Us: Chapter 6 – Finale

The air was warm and soft, the breeze blew pure and clean form the grassy hills down past the rusty tractor, falling over the farmhouse gently. It was an antique, considered a relic of time, the huge wooden house that was a reminder that there was a time when people didn't believe in aliens, when they had dreams instead of fears, when beautiful things were all anyone had to see.

It was Dib's only reminder he had a reason to live.

The sun was just rising while birds were starting to chirp in the early morning. Dib got out of his SUV carefully, slowly taking in the grassy fields, the broken down fence, rusty machines and large fields that once had yielded fruits of the Earth. Useless in a world ruled by industrialization, but appreciated none the less by his family and himself. Home always looked better when he got there. The sadness that followed him around like a wounded animal was temporarily healed and let him alone. There were things to do, people to talk to and something he could call his own. He could pretend that nothing bad had happened, no one had died, that this little slice of reality had escaped even the painful events that had happened across the globe. It was an illusion, but a welcome one.

His kitchen was quiet when he entered. There was a sketchbook sitting on the dining table, remnants of Gurn's latest endeavours into his art and a bright plastic bracelet. The bracelet was Deen's, she had a thing for bright colours and hysterical gatherings of her fellow teens. Gir's influence everlasting no doubt. Today must have been Saturday, there was no hubbub of his children getting ready for school, nor Gaz the ever watchful 'mother hen' unconventional as she was, who took a great liking to both of them. It was almost hard to believe that cold unfeeling Gaz had practically raised his children and had done an exceptional job on top of it. Although Gurn and Gaz shared some heated moments, arguing over this and that, or glaring at each other bitterly over the breakfast table, Dib knew they both inherently liked each other. Gurn was similar to how Gaz was when they were kids; always quiet, bitterly stewing while mumbling threats of 'doom' and 'destruction' to Deen. At least he had friends though, that was one mark above he and Gaz when they were their ages.

Quietly walking up the stairs, he made it to his bed, flopped down and sighed. He had hardly the energy to change, so just ditched his trench coat to the side of his bed, laying back into the red pillows allowing a release of tension that hadn't been possible until his trip had been finished. Thoughts and moments floated by, Gurn winning an award last year for space design, Gaz keeping Deen in line despite her wanton wish to abandon school for raves, and then out of the blackness of memory Zim, smiling. He chocked back a sob and rolled over, determined to leave the tears behind.

"They belong in the field, " he whispered to himself, "not here at home."

With great resolve he rested his head afresh on the pillow. It only took a few seconds before he was fast asleep.

"Ga—aaz!" Deen whined, pouting at her brother who was glaring darkly at her.

Gaz limped out of the living room book in one hand, cane in the other, to the kitchen table.

"Gurn stop sulking. You're freaking your sister out," she sat with them as a mediator, reading. Usually a Gameslave would be in her hand, but those things had been deemed illegal wastes of energy after most of the cities and power plants were destroyed. Everyone was focused on rebuilding; it left little time for things like videogames and TV.

A bowl of cereal sat in front of Gurn, and over it he was giving death stares to Deen; who if Gaz would have asked, had drunk the last of the milk thereby disallowing Gurn to enjoy his cereal breakfast as much as he could have.

"What is your PROBLEM?" Deen asked, scowling at Gurn.

He continued glaring sourly.

Deen slammed her hands on the table, " Ugh! Just because you don't have any friends doesn't mean you can be a total jerk to everyone else! I'm so sick of your mopey bullshit!"

Gaz raised an eyebrow in her direction, "calm down Deen. Your dad's still sleeping upstairs."

"Like anything could wake him up after that stupid trip he takes every year. Gurn, I can't stand you! All you do is whine and mope about life, and hang out with the cute neighbour kid! Why he puts up with someone like you I'll never know! You two are SO disgusting!" Gurns' eyes grew very huge after that comment, "Why don't you just admit that you need people, and stop being a sour little goth boy all the time?"

The emotional rumble in the air was obvious; Gurn picked up his cereal bowl and huffed the dry chocolate cocoa fangs at Deen, who squealed on impact. Gaz almost fell off her chair trying to contain her ill timed laughter under a hacking sound, as Gurn stormed off in a rage towards the front door.

"You're worse then Dad!" Deen howled, still struggling to get the cocoa fangs out of her very gelled purple hair.

Gurn chose to ignore her comment, whipping open the front door so fast it slammed against the adjoining wall, only to pause in mid angry stride.

"HI!"

A little robot stood on the front step, smiling stupidly up at them.

"What the hell-" Gurn muttered, but was stopped mid sentence.

"AH MISSE-ED YOOOOU!" it squealed.

The little metallic bot glomped his face flinging him inside.

"Sweet Jebus!" Gurn screamed, "get this thing off of me! Arrrg!AAGH!" He flung his arms around, knocking over a few things, in an attempt to reclaim his head.

Deen stared at them, the slow glow of recognition forming over her features.

"It's.." she stammered, "I remember that, Gurn we used to play with him all the time! It's GIR!" she squealed ripping the bot off of her brother's face to embrace the little thing, while Gaz confounded roused herself from the table to have a look.

Deen giggled swinging the little bot around much to its delight.

"Where have you been Gir? We missed you so much!" she said, hugging it close to her.

"I was on…" a perplexed look crossed it's face, followed by one of enlightenment, "DA MOON!" it announced triumphantly.

"I doubt that," grumbled Gurn, then morbidly turned to Gaz, "so, what are we going to do about dad if he finds this thing?"

Gaz shook her head, "I'm not sure if seeing it would be good for him. Maybe we should hide it," then stared at Gir who had left Deen's hug to run around in circles around the table, squealing. She sighed, "or not. He'd find it sooner or later. That thing is hard to ignore."

Deen looked offended, "why should we hide it anyway? Who knows where it came from! Someone might have fixed it, or captured it and it found it's way here. The poor thing, it doesn't know anything more then we do!" She scooped up Gir dramatically and squished him close.

Gaz frowned, "the mere fact it did find it's way here makes me suspicious. Our location is pretty hush hush, maybe the government got a hold of it and just sent the crazy piece of metal here after they realised it wasn't a weapon."

"Or," grumbled Gurn, "the Irkens sent it here hoping it would explode and kill us all."

Gurn got a very unappreciative look from Gaz and Deen.

Gir jumped down to the floor and looked up at them with big aqua eyes, "Is da monkey still on?"

"Geez. If only you could tell us something useful," Gaz grumbled, picking it up and setting it on the table poking Gir lightly.

Gurn stared at it for a long time, silently assessing the robot. It looked back at him with large quizzical eyes. If Deen or Gaz had been looking in his direction, they would have seen the hurt that crossed Gurn's features for a moment before they resumed their usual unemotional demeanor.

"It probably came from the wreckage," he said bitterly, then much to Deen's annoyance and Gaz's disbelief, he turned, kicked the door open and left them there alone with the crazy robot, and the inevitable confrontation with his father.

"Hey..HEY!" Deen shouted, "just where the hell do you think you're going!"

"Just let him alone Deen," Gaz said frowning while shaking her head, "he's just trying to deal."

Deen pouted crossing her arms dramatically across her chest, "between him and dad I don't know who's worse."

Gir was kicking his feet over the edge of the table grinning his usual overly cheerful grin.

"We've got bigger issues with him showing up at our doorstep," she said gesturing to Gir, "it makes me wonder," she said, as she stared at him up close noting the absence of any scratches, "how the hell he made it here at all."

Dib struggled awake, still groggy and tired. He rolled over in the tangle of sheets, still wearing his clothes from yesterday; sighing. It wasn't like when he had been a kid and could stay up all night hunting Zim, never letting the thought of sleep deter him.

Zim. He was all that was in his thoughts, every dream, every waking moment, just Zim.

He raked his hands down his face in a wretched sigh, fussed with his hair and then decided it might be a good idea to creep down into the land of the living and see what was up. It was the weekend thank goodness, so he didn't have anything terribly pressing to do. Maybe work on those articles later, check to see if Deen had done her homework and if Gurn had gotten into any fights lately. His children had their quirks no doubt, but who would have thought otherwise considering where half their genes came from.

"Arg!" he growled frustrated at his mind orbiting around the all encompassing sun of his thoughts, "that's enough," he said firmly while pushing himself off the bed, "time to get up."

The blinding light assailed his eyes. Luckily Dib had stopped for a shower to help himself feel mildly awake before venturing downstairs, otherwise he would have seen the bright blinding orb and turned around to go back up for another hour or two. Dib blinked, slowly adjusting to the encroaching light as he crept closer to the kitchen, the smell of toast hanging heavy in the air. He entered the room; vision momentarily blinded, rubbing under his glasses.

"Gaz, where are Gurn and Deen," he yawned.

A dish shattered.

"Stupid stink-beast ware!" was uttered bitterly.

Dib's steps utterly froze. He rubbed his eyes again in disbelief. His shock was so profound that he would have poked them out in confusion had he the chance.

"Zim..?" he whispered, barely audible.

The tall thin alien turned, alerting Dib to his green skin and ruby eyes. There was no mistaking Zim for any other Irken, he had been the focal point of Dib's thoughts for too long to forge any false memories about his appearance. There were only two notable points that made his appearance any different then when they had last seen each other; Zim's eyes were a little darker and his left antennae was shorter then the right one.

"Ah, Dib. It's most pleasant to see you again," Zim, said a happy glimmer flitting through his eyes.

Dib was torn. He wanted to embrace him, he wanted to strangle him for leaving; above all, he wanted a damn good explanation for reappearing after years of being told by everyone around him that he was dead. However, his throat constricted and his eyes were about to well over with tears. All he could do was grab Zim by the arms and pull him in for a very tight hug.

"Where the hell WERE you!" he managed to choke out.

A high pitched voice came back with a reply, "we were on the moon. It was full of popcorn! AH LIKE TAQUITOS!"

"Gir?" Dib peered over Zim's shoulder, confounded.

"Hmm yes. Travelling through space with that thing is MOST obnoxious," Zim said with an eye twitch.

Gaz had arrived with Deen and Gurn in tow. They all simultaneously stopped and stared at the strange visitor.

Deen's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, "ZIM!" she squealed making a leap towards him, but then stopped just short, "I mean…hi." It was easy to tell by the way she hopped from one foot to the other she really wanted to cling to her other parent for dear life, but had no idea if that sort of thing was appropriate.

Gaz rolled her eyes, " Zim give her a hug before she explodes." Deen obliged by wrapping her arms around Zim squishing him quite thoroughly, "Oh, and good to see you back by the way," Gaz added, in her normal unenthusiastic tone, watery eyes betraying her real emotions, " you owe us all a damn good explanation."

There was one person in between the three that was not engaged in some kind of Zim worship. Gurn stood darkly in the doorway, his expressions convulsing between a thousand different faces before settling back to an unreadable mask. After a few moments Zim looked over and noticed his favourite offspring standing over by the door.

"Ah Gurn," Zim said, marching over to offer the traditional human embrace.

His outstretched hand however, was slapped away defiantly. Dib stood aghast watching ten thousand shades of anger flash on his son's face, while Gurn's fist clenched and unclenched beside him.

"That's all right, thanks," Gurn grumbled sourly and turned away, his heavy angry footsteps thudding their way upstairs. None of them could see from their vantage point, but tears had begun to stream down his face the moment his foot touched the stairway.

Dib shook his head, "Gurn.." but he knew better then to pursue him when he was like this. Confrontation only led to inevitable alienation; that is talking with Gurn when angry was very akin to beating one's head repetitively against a brick wall. Except the brick wall probably expressed more empathy.

Zim seemed very confused by Gurn's reaction, Dib noted, but didn't press the matter. He was overwhelmed by Gaz and Deen asking all kinds of questions.

"What have you been doing?"

"Where have you been?"

All the usual ones someone asks after a long absence.

"Yes yes it was all so very exciting," Zim said with a lacklustre intonation and an equally unenthusiastic wave of his hand, " truly a tale for another time. Right now I demand TOAST!"

Deen, giggling like she was on crack went to make Zim toast, while Dib sat back on the kitchen chair with his hand gripping the armrest so hard his fingers were turning white. He pressed his other hand nervously to his t-shirt, fiddling with a tiny fold in the cloth; watching. It was unbelievable what he was seeing now, how this situation came into being. He had never dreamed realistically that Zim would ever return alive, then suddenly there he was. It was wonderful, it was painful, it was years of turmoil and agony rolled into a single moment. He couldn't let go of the chair and thusly couldn't rise, just like he couldn't let go of the anger that was creeping up inside of him slowly strangling his joy.

"Years," he whispered in his head, "it's been years and not a fucking word."

Despite that, when Zim announced markedly in his haughty tone that he was now unpacking, Deen was the first one to jump up and offer to help.

"Feh, I suppose that's all right," Zim said with a wave of his claw, "but Dib and Gir should come too. There's a lot to unload from the voot."

And with that, it was like nothing had changed in Zim's mind. He was the ruler of his little slice of Earth, of Gurn, Deen, Gaz and most of all Dib. However, Dib's hands were shaking as he stood; Zim really didn't understand. He didn't know that things had changed more then he could comprehend, how much had transpired. Maybe he had read somewhere, or had seen some videos, but that didn't make it the same as experiencing it. He hadn't known about the hospital, the horrible day Dib realised all his friends were dead, did he even know that his Dad had passed away? Did Zim have any idea that the neighbourhood he had called home for so many years didn't even exist anymore? Above all, to an alien species that probably lived three times longer then a human, did any of this matter at all? A huge knot was in his stomach. He wanted to talk to Zim alone, he wanted to make him see that he just couldn't come back after years and expect his family to be perfectly all right with it. Gurn was the number one obvious example of that and Zim didn't even seem to care about the way he had acted at all. All that unresolved tension from their early years of living together came flooding back in a horrible wave; he couldn't stop thinking that Zim really didn't care about anything but a 'mission' after all. And if Zim didn't care about him, then what the hell had he been holding onto all this time? It felt like he had been living in a room filled with smoke and mirrors.

"Are you coming Dib?" Gaz said as she passed him standing there awkwardly, "and close your mouth. You're almost drooling on yourself."

Dib laughed brokenly, "gee thanks Gaz."

"C'mon. Your lover boy's back. Time to go get his stuff…," she paused looking at him with a single arched eyebrow, "uh Dib…are you ok?"

"I'm fine," he said lifelessly. And in pure Gurn fashion it was the only answer he willingly offered.

Gaz shrugged choosing not to respond to his cold expression, "then we should get going."

Listlessly Dib trudged out the door. Secretly inside there was nothing he'd rather do right now then grab Zim aside and talk, no, demand an explanation for the hell he had lived through; however, he knew there would be time later and he would have to be content with merely dragging his stuff back from the voot. It was just like old times, annoyingly so. Dib ever playing the doormat while Gaz, Deen and Zim trudged all over him with abandon. He suddenly felt more akin to those horrid housewives with their unappreciative white trash husbands; except his so called 'husband' was an alien. Literally.

After they had gathered what they needed and brought it back, Zim announced he had to go run some errand to their 'pitiful Earth government'.

"You're leaving again?" Dib had said flatly, while sitting on the porch resting his head on one hand.

"For a while. Then I return to our home," Zim had said eyeing Dib in his wretched state then commenting, "you should take in more food. You're getting pathetic."

Dib had stared in disbelief as he just walked off to the voot in the field, casting a lanky shadow across the wheat before slipping into his vehicle and lifting off, vanishing into the sky again, hardly looking down.

What a moment this was for him as he sat on the porch staring up at the empty sunset. He was there so long it became a sky full of stars. With little bravado he pulled himself off the porch and staggered world weary into the house. He had someone he had to talk to in there, his son who was suffering.

The room was in its usual state when he entered it. Black and grey, with some posters of campy saucer films on the walls, peppered here and there with space photos of various planets. Gurn was lying with his back to the door in the bed alcove, chest rising and lowering gently, but not obvious enough to suggest sleep.

Dib sighed and drug a chair from the desk over to the side of the bed, " think you're ready to talk about what's bothering you?"

The body shuffled and rolled, faintly Dib could hear a grunt of irritation coming from it.

"I don't need pity," was the cold quit reply.

Dib laughed, maybe more cruelly then he had intended, "Gurn, you of all people in this situation do not need any pity. Just spit it out, why did you treat Zim that way? He's your other parent, he's alive, and you and I and probably a good chunk of the rest of the world thought he was dead. He's a hero, a…"

But Dib wasn't allowed to finish as his eyes were met with angry red irises staring accusingly.

"He's no hero," Gurn spat out, "he left both of us. And you feel the same way! I saw the way you acted, except you're worse then me because you just pretend everything's all right, just like you have for years. What's worse, Dib, my indignancy or your masquerade?"

He was taken aback by his son's words, " Gurn, I'm not Dib, I'm your father. If we hear out Zim, maybe things can be explained."

"That's a load of bull and you know it," was the annoyingly truthful statement.

"No, it's not. You don't know the whole story! Who knows what he's been through? Maybe he's been through worse then us!" he realised his voice was raising, matching Gurn's fever pitch. He realised poignantly that he was only arguing because it stung to be told exactly what he had been feeling.

Gurn had propped himself on his hands. In the dim light Dib could see faint tear streaks on his face, and eyes slightly irritated from crying.

"Get out of my room," a chillingly cold request.

Dib knew that this was the time when any person in their right mind would leave Gurn to his own devices. In fact, he knew he had been stupid to bring this up in the first place, the boy was more stubborn then him and Zim combined, which if one thought about it, was an astronomical level. With that admonition Dib did nothing but silently recoil out of the room back into the hallway feeling slighted defeated. He didn't realise what Gurn had been staring at while sitting in his bed all that time. Hanging on the wooden board across from the bed, was the picture Gurn had drawn as a child of Zim and Dib holding hands, under the stars.

Dib had walked lackluster downstairs. He sat as he had sat so many nights alone, at the kitchen table. Gaz had come down for a moment to say goodnight but had since left him with his thoughts. It was like it had always been. Dib, feeling utterly powerless waiting for Zim to come home. He sniffed noticing that tears had begun to slide down his cheeks, he was afraid even this time as Zim left, that it would just turn out be a dream and he would be forced to resume life upon waking; listless and solitary. Was love worth this kind of torture? The question couldn't help but be presented to him.

"Yes," he whispered into the moon doused kitchen, wiping his eyes, "yes it is."

So maybe, when the door opened and Zim came creeping in he felt a huge sense of relief. Just maybe in Dib's mind he had already forgiven him for any transgression he might have made against their relationship, intentional or not. Perhaps he had even still loved him deeply, despite feeling unquestionably angry and betrayed.

He still couldn't help the anger creeping into his voice when he adressed him with a stern, "we need to talk."

Zim stopped in the doorway hand held lankily at his sides.

"Gir why don't you go have a nap somewhere on someone's head," he said to the little robot.

"Yes my master!" Gir flashed, then scurried away upstairs.

"You improved that thing didn't you," Dib said smiling slightly.

Zim nodded affirmatively, "made a pit stop in Irk. Got some parts."

There was an uncomfortable silence as the two observed each other. Dib noticed that Zim's eyes looked far more tired and worn then they had earlier.

"Want to take a walk outside?" Dib suggested.

Zim agreed and they made their way past the door of the farmhouse into the fields, together.

There was a grassy knoll a few minutes walk from the house. Dib sat himself down on it and looked up at the sky filled with stars. Zim sat next to him seemingly preoccupied with the ground.

"Dad's dead." Dib said, "so is Zita, if you remember her from skool."

"I knew about Professor Membrane, my condolences for the Zita," Zim said nonchalantly.

Dib tried his best not to show his frustration, "I've been doing all the talking lately Zim. It's your turn. Tell me what happened," Dib choked back his tears, "where were you?"

Zim's antennae twitched slightly, "when I left I wasn't sure if I would ever make it back to Earth. The Irken Armada was planning to blow the planet up from the inside out. Obviously that plan failed, only because at the last minute the incompetent resisty finally managed to screw up the Massive enough that it blew up. I had a hand in helping them with your father's invention. The tallest haven't been located. Perhaps they're dead, perhaps not but there's a whole armada of planets looking for them. If they aren't dead they'll be found and charged for crimes against all universal life," Zim shuffled uncomfortably, "since the Irkens were mutual enemies of many star systems the planet was attacked and completely destroyed."

Dib swallowed, "wouldn't that…kill all the Irkens? I thought the controller brains were the ones keeping the pacs working…"

"It killed most. But not all. When the pacs malfunctioned a few managed to be spared. They've all been rounded up and sent to prison camps." He finished.

"Doesn't that bother you?" asked Dib.

"Not really. They never liked me much anyway." He said nonchalant.

"What happened to you after that?" Dib said, trying to contain his frantic voice.

"You won't like the answer," Zim glowered.

"I don't care. Just tell me. Tell me anything," he sighed, "You owe me that. You owe your children…"

Dib was interrupted by a shrieaking Zim, " You didn't THINK I knew that! Of course I did. The world was IMPLODING like some hideous imploding thing! I thought you were in that spaceship safe and sound but instead you decided to idiotically return to the stupid ball of Earth," he seethed.

"You didn't think I could just…leave everyone to their doom? And I didn't know anything about what you and dad were doing! That hurt Zim! That really stung!" and he was filled with the most righteous anger he had ever felt, it was just coursing through his veins making him raise his voice and say things that he begrudgingly admitted maybe he shouldn't have said.

"I didn't matter anyway, in that stupid Irken machine I was badly injured. They picked me up and sent me to Irk in chains as some kind of farcical war criminal. Like your stupid Earth Government cared about humans, let alone a single alien! I was considered the enemy even after Irk was destroyed and I was rescued! That's right Dib, I was stuck here on Earth for years all along in some kind of miserable jail made by your foolish Earth Government. The resisty just handed me over like a piece of meat to be poked and prodded and killed as if it was nothing. And I was the one that helped them blow up the massive! None of it would have been possible if it weren't for me ZIM using your invention! I didn't know they had you or Gurn or what happened to anyone. And all I could think about was…" Zim's voice became suddenly quiet, "all I could think about….was finding you."

They sat in silence for a little while.

"I had years of waiting in that cell not knowing anything. Suddenly one day they came," Zim said, "that's when they made a deal with me and let me out. That they wouldn't persecute us or the smeets if I did what I was told."

"Zim," said Dib, as a horrible feeling crawled through his body, "they told me you were dead. They even had the last video you sent through your mech. They let me watch it. I was devastated. I couldn't even think or eat or do anything after seeing that. All these years they've just been giving me money, telling me to keep my mouth shut about whatever happened to me and my family. And they KNEW they had you! I'm convinced! I'm convinced that's why they let us both off the hook at all! They just used us…" Dib sniffed tearfully.

Zim's claw rested on his head. The wind whistled through Dib's hair and the grass shushed quietly across the lonely fields. Dib exhaled, trying to calm himself.

"A lot of damage has been done," he said slowly, methodically, " but we can repair it. We can escape whatever trap they set for us. Just promise me one thing…"

Dib reached up and touched Zim's hand. They now held hands under the cold starless sky. Dib was shaking.

"Never leave me again."

It went unspoken. There was a lot of work to do. They laid on the grass holding each other's hands with confidence. It was just the two of them; it had always been the two of them perhaps against the entire world. And now all the dreams and nightmares had been fulfilled. They would always have each other, now and forever no matter what foe stood in their way.

- END


End file.
